Barangay chairman, cop nabbed for selling shabu in N. Mindanao

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have scored anew in their continuing drive against illegal drugs all over the country with the recent arrest of a barangay chairman and a police officer in Northern Mindanao for allegedly selling shabu, it was learned yesterday.

PDEA Region 10 director Police Superintendent Oliver Enmodias said in his report that the suspects were arrested in separate operations in Camiguin and Lanao del Norte on July 23.

First to be arrested was Michael Phillip Kho, 40-year-old barangay chair in Mahinog, Camiguin. He was caught in the act of selling a plastic sachet of shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a buyer at around 4:30 p.m. July 23.

Authorities said they also recovered two more plastic sachets from Kho, chair of Barangay San Miguel who was included in the watch list of most wanted drug suspects in the region.

An hour later, PDEA operatives nabbed Police Officer 3 Nestor Kilat in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte.

Kilat was arrested by virtue of a search warrant issued by Iligan City Regional Trial Court Branch 1 Judge Mamindiara Mangotara for allegedly running a shabu den in his house.

Narcotics agents said they arrested five persons who were in the middle of a pot session inside the house of the policeman in Purok 7 in Poblacion. A total of 29 sachets of shabu were also seized from the suspects.

Charges of violation of Section 5 (Sale of Dangerous Drugs) under Article II of R.A. 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act) were filed against both suspects. Kilat also faces an additional case for violation of Section 6 (maintenance of a drug den, dive or resort) because his residence was being used for holding pot sessions.

PDEA Director Gen. Dionisio Santiago commended his men for the successful operations as he vowed to further strengthen their strategies in combating drug menace in the country.

In fact, Santiago said they had a two-day meeting with representatives of the various chemical and pharmaceutical companies through a program of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The strategic meeting, held on July 22 and 23 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, was in line with UNODC projects that are geared toward encouraging counterparts from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries to voluntarily cooperate with authorities by implementing precautionary measures to prevent diversions of controlled precursors and essential chemicals.

The PDEA Compliance Service, headed by officer-in-charge Helen Maita Reyes, was designated to work side by side with the UNODC in implementing this project. Consistent with its mandate as the lead agency to enforce the anti-drug law, PDEA is also tasked to monitor and regulate the importation, exportation, manufacture and distribution of precursors and essential chemicals, which otherwise have legitimate medical and industrial uses.

UNODC Project Coordinator Wong Hoy Yuan facilitated the strategy meeting, which presented the alarming realities about the proliferation of Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) and other drugs of abuse that are being illegally manufactured in the Philippines and other East Asian countries using diverted precursors and essential chemicals as raw materials.