Lawyer, family members fall in Siquijor drug raid
A lawyer and several members of his family were arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force in barangay Ulo, Siquijor, Siquijor at dawn last Thursday.
Authorities identified the suspects as Atty. Rex Perewperew, 29 and his wife Emie, 30. Also arrested were his father Mansueto Perewperew, 62 and mother Belinda, 50, both residents of
Police seized from the house of Atty. Perewperew eight packs of suspected shabu, one pack of the same substance that was bought from them in the buy bust, marked money worth P250; drug paraphernalia; four live .45 caliber ammunition, P2,240 cash and US dollars.
In the house of Perewperew’s parents, the authorities found three packs of suspected shabu, five live ammunition of .45 caliber; assorted drug paraphernalia; wristwatches; cash amounting to P4,040, cellphones and a motorcycle believed to be used in their operation.
Police also arrested the lawyer’s alleged drug courier identified as Joramie Ricamara.
According to Jessie Tabanao, assistant spokesman for the PDEA-7, Ricamara was the one who received the marked money and handed it to Atty. Perewperew and at the same time took the alleged illegal drugs handed to him by the lawyer and gave it to the poseur buyer.
At this instance, the police pounced on them and made the arrest.
Other teams also pounced on three other houses of the Perewperew family, which were also subject of the two search warrants issued by two regional trial court judges in
One policeman identified as PO3 Clint Cañete injured his fingers that were caught in the door jamb when Ricamara slammed it to avoid arrest.
FO3 Prescillano Gingoyon of PDEA had to break the glass door to get in and subdued the suspects inside the house.
The others arrested were the lawyer’s uncle identified as Pedro Perewperew, 53 and his wife Elva, 49; and cousin identified as Glor Perewperew, 43, along with his wife Estella, 44. They are all residents of the nearby sitio
Found from the house of Pedro were 34 packs of suspected shabu; empty sachets; one homemade .357 revolver with 12 live ammunition; P3,500 cash; electric heat sealer and drug paraphernalia.
In Glor’s house, authorities found one big plastic pack and two small packs all containing suspected shabu; 12 pieces of live .22 caliber magnum bullets; eleven pieces of live .38 bullets and drug paraphernalia.
The PDEA-7 led by Atty. Jennifer Rosales and SPO4 Jessie Cabalda backed by RAIDSOT led by Sr. Supt. Drusillo Bolodo, Supt. Marvin Sanchez and Siquijor Provincial Police Office director Sr. Supt. Orlando Ualat successfully raided the place without casualty on both sides.
Rosales told reporters that the family were allegedly engaged in illegal drugs operation for more than a year, but were not yet included in their watchlist for illegal drugs personalities in the region.
Rosales added that because there were no attempts from the local law enforcement units in the said area, people think of them as “untouchables.”
Rosales said that it took them three months before they managed to get a search warrant against the group and has to make test buys last March twice just to be sure of the information.
They managed to get the search warrants from Cebu City RTC Judge Ramon Codilla, Jr. and Mandaue City RTC Judge Teresita Galanida against the group after weeks of applying for it, because of the issue of jurisdiction.
Atty. Perewperew, when interviewed by reporters, denied the accusations against him and his family and refused to answer questions from the media. —Edwin Ian Melecio/NLQ
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