Chiong: Drug suspect not my bodyguard

CEBU, Philippines - City of Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong yesterday denied that the man arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in a drug buy-bust operation last Friday was his bodyguard.

Chiong admitted that he hired Ricardo Cantillas as job order worker but not as bodyguard contrary to what was reported in a local tabloid.

"Wa ko'y giingun nga bodyguard. Lumalaban ra na sila nato. Pero wa koy bodyguard nga naay armas," said Chiong.

The mayor said, as job order employee of the city government, Cantillas' job description does not include tailing him like what a bodyguard does.

 "I don't need a bodyguard. I'm not someone who needs a bodyguard," Chiong stressed.

Chiong said Cantillas might have joined in one of his political campaigns, but he was just among those individuals who volunteered to go.

The mayor said he knew of Cantillas' previous brush with the law when he was arrested for murder in 2005. But Chiong said he gave him a second chance. Chiong said it was he who gave Cantillas a start-up capital for his barbecue business at the city's reclamation park.

"Everybody deserves a second chance. I believe in giving a second chance to individual," he said. But with what happened, Chiong said Cantillas "has to pay the consequence."

The prosecutor's office of the City of Naga has already indicted Cantillas and three others for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

The prosecutor's office elevated the case before the court against Cantillas, Zosimo Abaquita, Ariel Sarusal, and Arnnette Sarusal after waiving their rights to avail of a preliminary investigation.

Abaquita, a resident of Sitio Mohon, Langtad, City of Naga, was charged for violation of Section 5 (illegal selling of shabu), Section 6 (maintaining drug den), Section 11 (illegal possession of shabu) and Section 12 (illegal possession of drugs paraphernalia) of Republic Act (RA) 9165.

Abaquita was the subject of the buy-bust operation conducted by the NBI operatives on Jan. 17, 2014.

Cantillas, field inspector of the Office of the Building Official (OBO), was charged for violation of Section 5 (delivery of shabu) of RA 9165 and violation of RA 10591 or Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.

The Sarusals were charged for violation of Section 7 (visiting drug den) of RA 9165. — (FREEMAN)