Monday, August 08, 2004 2 shabu bags lost: suspect to Cuenco By Garry Cabotaje and Allan I Varquez
CEBU CITY -- Suspected big-time drug courier Willy Solon Saturday swore before Rep. Antonio Cuenco that the Maritime police indeed seized four kilos of shabu from him, not two as they had reported to the media.
Solon repeated his confession five times while he raised his right hand and stood before Cuenco in the office of Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) Warden Nestor Velasquez past 10 a.m.
Both Cuenco and Supt. Gaudencio Pagaling, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 chief, went to BBRC to get a statement directly from Solon on the reported missing two kilos of shabu.
This latest insistence of Solon ran counter to the earlier statement of the suspect's lawyer, Noel Archival, who said his client did not actually carry the four packs of shabu.
As published in a local daily (not Sun.Star), Archival said the Maritime Group (Marig) 7 operatives only showed his client the illegal stuff while they were inside a downtown inn.
Marig 7 Chief Sales Zaragosa said they arrested Solon, of Mabolo, Cebu City, right after he arrived at Pier 5, Cebu City from Manila for carrying two big packs of shabu, weighing two kilos, in his traveling bag last July 28.
But Archival reportedly said Solon did not carry the illegal stuff.
Hotel trade
Solon revealed that his arresting officers brought him to two downtown inns and demanded P500,000 from his alleged drug source, Roy Archua, in exchange for his freedom hours after his arrest.
This did not, however, materialize.
"He's very cooperative," described Cuenco in his brief meeting with Solon in Velasquez's office.
Later in the afternoon, Cuenco (Cebu City, south) had a conference with the four Maritime policemen in his residence in Guadalupe, Cebu City.
Senior Insp. Roger Mangaoan, PO3 Loreto Banilad, PO2 Henry Deluna, PO1 Napoleon Taneo accepted Cuenco's challenge for them to undergo a polygraph test to determine who is telling the truth.
Banilad said he only saw two big plastic packs of shabu when Solon opened his black bag after they stopped him for a search. This was right after he stepped down from the gangplank.
Lie detector
When Cuenco asked the policemen about the missing two other kilos of shabu, Banilad said Solon may have fabricated the story after a complaint was filed against him in court.
The two plastic packs of shabu that Mangaoan brought to the PNP Crime Laboratory for testing weighed 1,994.20 grams or less than two kilos.
Not satisfied with their explanation, Cuenco asked the policemen to undergo a polygraph test, which they agreed to after a 15-minute consultation with their lawyer.
Cuenco, who headed the House committee on dangerous drugs in the 12th Congress, said he called the conference to get the truth because Solon was firm in his allegation.
"This is only a conference, not a congressional inquiry," he told the Maritime policemen before asking them questions about the missing two kilos of shabu.
He made each of them swear to tell the truth before he asked them to explain their side.
At the BBRC, Cuenco urged Solon to put his confession in writing because there is a chance the suspect may become a state witness.
Back-up
But Solon is said to have declined to sign an initial draft of his statement because he has yet to consult his lawyer.
For his part, PDEA Director Anselmo Avenido told radio dyLA that Solon should put his confession in writing otherwise his accusations against the Marig 7 will remain hearsay.
At BBRC, Cuenco and Pagaling also found out that Solon's Marig 7 arresting officers did not deposit his personal belongings since his arrest.
Solon earlier complained to the PDEA 7 that his cellular phone, necklace, bracelet, ATM card and P1,300 were lost after his arrest.
PDEA investigator SPO2 Mark Nadanza, who was also in the meeting in Cuenco's residence, said two witnesses are willing to corroborate Solon's statement that he was brought to an inn after his arrest.
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