NUBAIN IN BUNS

Mary Ann Abellanosa Labita, 45, is detained at the Police Station 9 of Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City after she was caught by Cebu City Jail guards with 19 ampules of Nubain hidden inside bread buns.

Woman tries to sneak inside the Cebu City Jail 19 Nubain ampules stuffed inside breads

Two women, both named Mary Ann, were supposed to be visiting loved ones inside the Cebu City Jail in Barangay Kalunasan on Sunday but ended up in a detention cell for sneaking drugs into the jail.

The two Mary Anns were caught in separate inspections, when jail guards caught on with what the two women thought were ingenious means to slip drugs in.

The first woman, Mary Ann Labita, 45, came at around 9 a.m. bringing with her a bag of bread that turned out to contain 19 ampules of Nubain, a restricted injectable pain killer known to be abused by drug users.

Senior Insp. Bryanroy Mercado, the deputy warden of the jail ran by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), said the 19 Nubain ampules were inserted into the center of the bread variety called “Francis.”

“Nagdala siya og 20 ka Francis nga pan ug naa didto gisulod ang 19 ka ampules sa Nubain (She brought 20 Francis bread where the 19 ampules of Nubain were inserted),” said Mercardo.

Mercado said Labita was able to get through the security check at the entrance of the jail facility with the bag of bread in hand.

She was already inside the male dormitory when jail guards inspecting the food brought in by visitors noticed that the bread she brought in each had a cut in the middle.

“Nabantayan sa atong searcher nga naay buslot ang mga pan. Nahibulong sila nganong tanan ang naay buslot sa tunga. Kadtong ilaha nang giablihan, didto nakita ang Nubain,” Mercado said.

(Our searchers noticed that the bread had a cut in the middle. They were curious and when they checked the bread, they found the Nubain.)

Labita at first denied she was the one who brought the bread, but there were those also lining up for inspection who attested that it was her who brought in the bread. One jail guard also saw her toss the bag of bread into a nearby table, Mercado said.

Eventually, Labita admitted to Mercado that she brought the bread but denied she knew that there were ampules of Nubain hidden there.

Mercado said that Labita was supposed to visit her live-in partner Manuel Reyes, who was detained because of an illegal drugs case.

However, Labita claimed the pieces of bread were not for Reyes but for another inmate named Rolly Barientos, who was also in jail for possession of illegal drugs.

‘Manang’

Labita told reporters that Barientos, a gay person she addressed as “Manang,” called her up by phone on Saturday, using the landline phone that is used by inmates to make outside calls, to ask her to bring the bread the next day.

“Igo ra man ko gisugo ato ni Manang (Barientos). Iyaha ko gitawagan nga dalhon to ang Francis nga pan kay ibaligya daw niya sa sulod,” Labita said while crying inside the detention cell in Guadalupe Police Station.

(I was just asked by Manang. He called me last Saturday to bring the Francis because he will sell it inside the jail.)

But she admitted that Barientos promised to give her P1,000 in exchange for the favor, an amount that was way more than the cost of the bread.

Labita insisted she did not know there were drugs inside the bread as she trusted Barientos, who had become her friend over the last two years that she had been visiting Reyes in jail.

She said it was also the first time that Barientos asked her a favor since she started visiting her partner.

Labita, who has two children aged 9 and 12 with Reyes, said she was supposed to return to the jail on Feb. 14 to spend Valentine’s Day with her partner.

These are the breads brought to the jail stuffed with the nubians

She said she regretted what she did and was felt sorry for her two children who did not even know that she was now being held in jail.

Labita, a resident of Barangay Basak-Pardo in Cebu City, is now held at the Guadalupe Police Station.

The other Mary Ann

Just two hours after Labita was arrested, Mary Ann Corporal, 29, was also arrested by jail guards manning the jail’s female dormitory after a white crystalline substance believed to be shabu was taken from her.

Senior Insp. Stephanny Salazar, the Cebu City Jail’s female dormitory officer-in-charge, said the small sachet of shabu was found inside the back pocket of Corporal’s jeans.

Salazar said Corporal was going to visit her mother, Estela Estella, who was detained after she was charged with possession of illegal drugs.

Salazar said that when they interviewed Corporal, the latter first claimed that it was just a sachet of tawas (aluminum potassium sulfate). She later on denied outright that she owned the item, claiming she was wearing a borrowed pair of jeans and did not know there was a sachet of shabu in its back pocket.

Corporal, a factory worker, claimed she just came from work and was wearing a pair of shorts when she decided to borrow the jeans of a gay friend so she could visit her mother in jail.

She said the jail guards would not allow her to enter the facility if she was wearing short pants.

Jail authorities were, however, not convinced with her alibi and had her detained, like Labita, at the Guadalupe Police Station, which has jurisdiction over the city jail.

Mercado said the Nubain and the small sachet of shabu were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) for laboratory examination.

Mercado said that once result came out and will prove that the ampules are Nubain and the white crystalline substance is shabu, they will file charges against Labita and Corporal for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Councilman in trouble

Meanwhile, an incumbent barangay councilman of San Fernando town in southern Cebu and another person were separately arrested Saturday night after they were allegedly caught with several packets of of shabu while going through a police checkpoint in Barangay Perrelos, Carcar City.

The suspects were identified as Jay Niño Castañares, 35, and a council member of Barangay Sangat, San Fernando who was allegedly in the police drug watch list; and Ricardo Lauron , 37, of Barangay Poblacion 3, Carcar City.

P01 Ronilo Lantape of San Fernando police said Castañares was considered a high value target who was closely being watched, particularly since he did not surrender during the town police’s Operation Tokhang campaign last year.

Carcar policemen led by SP04 Jorame Tanod-Tanod were manning a checkpoint in Sitio Catugasan of Barangay Perrelos at around 10 p.m. on Saturday when Castañares, on board a motorcycle, was seen approaching and was heading towards San Fernando town. Upon seeing the checkpoint, Castañares allegedly tried to turn back but was cornered by policemen.

Lantape said the Carcar police found in his possession one medium, three small and one big rectangular plastic packs containing illegal drugs believed to be shabu (methamphetamine).

Police also allegedly recovered from Lauron a small sachet believed to be shabu.

Like Castañares, Lauron was also driving a motorcycle and tried to turn back when he saw the checkpoint but was still caught by the police./