Frat house raided, 7 nabbed

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Three brothers and four other youngsters, allegedly members of the Tau Gamma Phi fraternity were arrested in a buy bust operation conducted at the Deduyo Compound in Barangay Villa Anita, this city, Thursday evening.

Paul Ledesma, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6, identified the arrested persons as the Gomez brothers — Kirvy, Roven and Zunvold; cousins Charles Anthony Deduyo and April Rose Deduyo; and college students Jason Rey Vergel, and Kristian Buivan — all residents of the city.

PDEA-6 operatives seized 21 heat-sealed plastic sachets of suspected shabu, weighing more or less 58 grams with an approximate street value of P348,000, three digital weighing scales, and lots of paraphernalia used in the repacking, distribution and use of illegal drugs.

Marking of seized evidences was done on-site in the presence of Barangay Chairman Celoy Alag and some journalists, said Ledesma, adding that criminal charges will be filed against the seven suspects.

Thursday’s raid was the second instance where the same fraternity has had members arrested in illegal drug activities, said Ledesma.

The first was during a buy-bust operation and a drug den neutralization operation conducted against frat leader Douglas Evidente at his residence at Alta Tierra Village in Jaro district of this city, where about 100 grams of shabu with an estimated street value of 600,000 were seized. — Jennifer P. Rendon and Montesa Griño Caoyonan (FREEMAN)