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Tuesday, February 14, 2006
3 men want drug case dropped
A non-bailable drug case has been filed against three men allegedly caught in an entrapment last month.
But Castro Sabal, Taner Macalnas and Tata Acang, all of Pagadian City, have asked the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor to
drop all charges, saying these were made up.
Homebound
They said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 operatives took them into custody at around 6:45 p.m. last Jan. 30, while they were about to ride their parked vehicle after buying groceries at a mall in Cebu City.
They said the agents boarded their car, held them at gunpoint, transferred them to another vehicle, and brought them to the PDEA office.
There, some of the agents took some of their belongings, including an Omega wristwatch and some groceries, which they bought for a pregnant relative who was visiting her doctor in Cebu.
Meeting
They pointed out that PDEA policeman Jose Erwin Dumaguit and SPO1 Cecilio Gomez had stated in their joint affidavit of arrest that they were in the vicinity of the Gaisano Fiesta Mall in Talisay City from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to meet with their informant and conduct the bust.
In a counter-affidavit to Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Osorio, the three men said the PDEA 7 blotter and logbook said Dumaguit was in Mandaue City to attend the hearing on the People vs. Hortelano and Montayre case.
The same PDEA 7 blotter and logbook stated that Gomez was in Lapu-Lapu City to attend a hearing at the Regional Trial Court there.
Also, the three men pointed out that the pre-operational report the agents supposedly prepared prior to the Jan. 30 raid, in accordance to rules, was dated Jan. 31.
They also asked why the marked money was not presented as evidence if the buy-bust operation really transpired.
“The said joint affidavit of the arresting officers cannot be given any credence,” the three men said.
Information
In the joint-affidavit, the policemen said they were acting on information that a certain Castro Sabal of Talisay City and his cohorts were allegedly engaged in the illegal trafficking of drugs.
They said they got somebody to act as conduit and arranged a buy-bust outside the Gaisano Fiesta Mall.
They went to Talisay City as early as 8 a.m. and stayed there until the negotiations for the purchase were done at around 11 a.m.
They then went to SM City, where the transaction would be done, for the actual raid. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 14, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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