Rookie cop caught buying shabu in Danao City

CEBU CITY–A rookie policeman was allegedly caught in the act of buying shabu from a suspected drug pusher in Barangay Sabang, Danao City, some 33.1 km north of Cebu City, on Tuesday morning.

PO1 Michael Vincent Beniabila Monares, 29, a member of the Tourist Police Unit in Cebu City Police Office was one of the four drug suspects who were arrested in two separate operations that started at 2:25 a.m.

The three others were Saturnino Lauro, 50; Sammy Sinilong, 29 and Sari Hermoso, 22,

Monares was brought to police crime laboratory on Tuesday afternoon to take a drug test.

The four suspects would face charges for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Lauro, who was one of the self-confessed peddlers who surrendered during Oplan Tokhang, said he continued selling drugs because he needed money to feed his wife and six children.

Lauro was subject of a police buy bust operation early Tuesday in Barangay Sabang.

During the operation, Lauro was with Sinilong who gave a pack of shabu to an undercover police agent.

When the suspects received the money, other policemen immediately pounced on them, said Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Danao police chief.

But he added Sinilong was able to escape while the police managed to arrest Lauro and Hermoso who happened to buy one small sachet of shabu during the operation.

The police recovered six small packs of shabu worth P3,776 from Lauro.

Batobalonos said a follow up operation was conducted past 10 a.m. after Sinilong was spotted in an interior portion of Barangay Sabang and was dealing with a customer.

When the transaction was consummated, Batobalonos said, they immediately arrested them.

It turned out that Monares was the one who bought a small sachet of shabu from Sinilong.

The police also seized the government-issued Glock 47 gun from Monares while three small packs of shabu were taken from Sinilong.

Batobalonos said Monares was shocked and cried when arrested.

Monares is a father of three young children, the eldest is 11 and the youngest is 3.

His wife, a public high school teacher in Suba, Danao City, also cried after learning the arrest of Monares.

The wife told the police that she had suspicion that her husband was a drug user.

“The couple constantly fought because the husband would not admit that he was using drugs and the wife kept nagging,” Batobalonos said.

Batobalonos said they learned from neighbors that Monares had not been reporting for work for over a month.

When Batobalonos asked him why, the policeman did not give an explanation except that he was no longer receiving a salary.

Batobalones said they assumed that Monares’ pay was depleted by his loans.

When Batobalones checked with the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), it turned out that Monares was suspended from Aug. 1 to 11 due to simple neglect of duty.

But it was not specified if it was due to his absences, he added.

Batobalonos said Monares claimed that he had just started using drugs but the police chief didn’t believe the rookie policeman who admitted that the last time he used drugs was on Monday.