Saturday, July 31, 2004 Ex-Kalinga vice mayor, 2 men nabbed in bust By Rimaliza Opiña
A FORMER vice mayor of Tinglayan, Kalinga, was caught with two other men in a buy-bust operation conducted near the Session Road rotunda in the wee hours of the morning of Tuesday.
A joint team of the PNP Criminal Investigation & Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) conducted the operation.
Supt. Danilo Flordeliza, PDEA regional director, named the suspects as Mario Lata-an Palangdao, 56, married, a former vice mayor of Tinglayan, Kalinga; Roland Bagtang Baclay, 23, married, a farmer, who resides at Buscalan, Tinglayan; and Gonzales Saliw-en Bagtang, in his ealy 20s, single, another farmer from Luccong, Tinglayan.
Seized from them were two bricks of dried marijuana resin or hashish weighing approximately 250 grams and which had a Dangerous Drugs Board market value of P100,000.
Also recovered from the same suspects was a bundle of 'boodle money' or ordinary paper cut into the same size as peso bills which had a P1,000 bill strapped on each side.
Members of the team that spearheaded the arrest said that a composite team was immediately formed upon receipt of information that a certain 'Gonzales' was looking for a marijuana buyer.
At around 12 midnight of Monday, members of the team positioned themselves at the YMCA building, while the poseur-buyer waited for the arrival of the dealers.
At about that time, a GL bus with body number 146 dropped off its passengers at the Philippine Postal Bank located across the street.
Among its passengers include the former vice mayor, Baclay and Bagtang.
Upon positive identification of the dealers, the poseur-buyer immediately proceeded to purchase the contraband using the marked 'boodle money.'
Based on the account of PDEA operatives, Gonzales was the one who handed the hashish bricks to the poseur-buyer, while Palangdao was identified as the group's custodian.
Soon after the exchange, PDEA and PNP-CIDG operatives immediately arrested the three suspects.
The suspects were detained at the Baguio City Jail for their alleged violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Drugs Law.
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