Business urged: Support drug ops

THE Mandaue City government is eyeing to draft guidelines for business establishments like hotels and motels requiring them to fully cooperate with the police’s drug bust operations.

This comes after the discovery of drug dens being operated inside a motel in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City last Sunday, which lead to the arrest of nine suspected drug dealers and users, all of them female, including a 15-year-old minor.

Drug traders are apparently looking for new means to peddle drugs in more discrete places like hotels, motels and condominiums.

Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing said it is high time that they ask the cooperation of establishment owners in tracing down the activities of these criminals in their premises.

“This is a modus that we really have to pay close attention to. If you notice over the last few months, we’ve had several successful police operations in motels. The anonymity of the hotels makes it a prime base for some of these criminals to hide out,” Quisumbing told reporters.

There are no definite guidelines yet but it will require owners to give leeway to the police to conduct operations in their establishments. The guidelines will be finalized through an ordinance.

“Hopefully, together with the owners of these establishments as well as with the help of the city council, we can create guidelines for the police and the city council where we could strike a balance between privacy and the need for public order and safety,” Quisumbing said.

“There is a need for ordinance. Any policy or actions by the city government wherein we assign penalties must be done by virtue of ordinance,” he said.

Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) director Senior Supt. Roberto Alanas said the hotel’s full cooperation was instrumental to the success of their operations.

Inquest

The suspects arrested in the motel raid will undergo inquest proceedings today before the Mandaue City Prosecutor’s Office.

Of the nine suspects, three will face drug peddling and six others for drug use.

The police discovered that the suspects used five adjoining rooms in the hotel as drug dens. They were able to confiscate P700,000 worth of shabu and a firearm.

Operating illegal drug trade inside hotels, motels, pension houses and condominiums has now become a trend for drug groups, said Mandaue City Intelligence Branch (CIB) chief, Supt. Bermouli Abalos.

For his part, PDEA chief Yogi Ruiz said many pushers now adapt and prefer this strategy of peddling drugs to maintain their privacy while being off the radar of the police force and eluding detection since they now have no permanent address.