Ex-Talisay police chief convicted for shabu

CEBU — A former police chief of Talisay City was sentenced to six years in jail for attempting to transport shabu to Naga City in Camarines Sur in 1996.

In a 15-page decision, Regional Trial Court Judge Isaias Dicdican found Carl Michael Reyes guilty of violating the Anti-Dangerous Drugs Law (Republic Act 6425) for trying to smuggle, via a parcel, 10 grams of shabu into Naga City on Nov. 21, 1996.

Court records show that Reyes instructed SPO2 Reynaldo Vitualia to mail a brown envelope which he claimed merely contained a local newspaper for his father in Naga City.

Vitualia said Reyes never told him the envelope contained two packs of shabu, and that he only learned about this when the forwarding company inspected and refused to send it.

Reyes later tried to explain that the shabu was part of an operation to crack down on illegal drug traffickers in Talisay.

He claimed that a certain Edilberto Echavez, a police asset, told him that sometime that month, a big shipment of drugs would come from Naga City to be distributed in Talisay and elsewhere in Cebu and in the Visayas.

Reyes said he immediately prepared an operation against the shipment but that his asset was discovered.

Echavez allegedly informed him that his contact in Naga City, a certain Amy Soberano, had lost confidence in him. To win back her trust, Reyes should reportedly send two packs of shabu to show good faith.

Reyes said the attempt to transport shabu to Naga City as part of the supposed operation had no clearance from higher police officials.

Dicdican found Reyes’ explanation highly unbelievable, saying he was convinced the alleged asset did not exist and that the envelope with shabu came from Reyes himself.

Despite the charges against him, Reyes has remained in police service and is assigned in Siquijor.

Former police regional director Ramsey Ocampo earlier recommended Reyes’ dismissal. Reyes, however, filed an appeal with the Regional Appellate Board of the Philippine National Police, which, in turn, merely demoted Reyes by one rank, from senior inspector to inspector.

While serving the administrative sanctions against him, Reyes, however, was promoted twice, from inspector, back to senior inspector, and then to chief inspector. — Freeman News Service