Wednesday, October 17, 2007
NBI agents raid ‘shabu tiangge’
AN EARLY evening raid on what seemed like a billiard hall in Pitalo, San Fernando, Cebu, closed an alleged drug den where people bought and sold shabu in the open.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) carried out the operation last Friday, acting on the result of a surveillance their agents carried out days before.
Monitoring was not hard as, based on the joint affidavits of lawyer Ermie Monsanto, agents Jesus Manapat and Greg Algoso and Investigators Arnel Pura, Florante Gaoiran and Greg Tomagan, the place was so open that it did not even have walls.
“Users and pushers could just sell drugs as if they are immune from arrest and apprehension,” they said in a joint affidavit submitted to Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba.
Customers
The Pitalo “shabu tiangge of the south,” according to one operative, served customers from the towns of Naga, San Fernando and Carcar.
Arrested during the operation were Jimmy Sayabuc, Generoso Pretila, Domingo Sabayton and Mark Anthony Tapia.
Sayabuc and Pretila, both of legal age and residents of Pitalo, San Fernando, were charged with violations of Section 6 (maintaining a drug den) and Section 15 (drug use) of Republic Act 9165.
Sabayton and Tapia, also of legal age and residents of Pitalo, were charged with Section 7 (frequenting a drug den) and Section 15 of RA 9165.
Three other “targets” of the operation—Niño Villarin, Archel Bacalso and Eduardo Sabayton, all of Sitio Lakaron, Pitalo, San Fernando—eluded arrest but were included in the charge before the provincial prosecutor.
All four detained respondents signed a waiver of detention at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor but, in a hearing yesterday, Sabayton and Tapia wanted to cancel the pleading so they could immediately post bail.
Injuries
Pretila, on the other hand, was not yet brought before Petralba as he is still receiving treatment for injuries sustained during the arrest.
Recovered during the operation were 10 packs of suspected shabu and some glass tubing that the agents believe were used as pipes or “tooters.”
An expected flashpoint during the preliminary investigation is the fact that the agents did not secure a warrant before carrying out the raid.
The agents and investigators, in their joint affidavit, said they did not need one because the illegal acts of selling and buying drugs were done in their presence.
Monsanto and Algoso, in a separate joint affidavit, said they conducted the surveillance and, at one point, actually saw people using drugs.
“No arrest was made because we were heavily outnumbered,” they said.
They also did not want to risk going head to head with residents who, according to a source, would intervene in arrests. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (October 17, 2007 issue)
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