PDEA-7 Director Yogi Felimon Ruiz (right) witnesses the testing of drugs brought to a funeral parlor in Cebu City for burning.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
Illegal drugs and expired medicines worth P10 million were burned in a fire chamber at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junquera Street, Cebu City, Wednesday morning.
The drugs worth P8.5 million consisted of shabu, marijuana and nubian. These were confiscated from dealers across Cebu province in separate operations by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), said Regional Director Yogi Felimon Ruiz.
Leia Albair, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said the drugs kept at the PDEA-7 storage were used as evidence of drug cases pending before Branch 13 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City.
The expired medicines worth P1.5 million were surrendered to PDEA-7 by different pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in Cebu province.
“Kaya pinakita namin ito sa lahat para malaman nila na hindi talaga namin ni-rerecycle yung mga drugs at ibinibenta ulit. Para malaman na rin nang lahat na kapag drugs and controlled chemicals ay dinidispose at sisirain agad natin ito kapag may court order.
(We wanted to show the Cebuanos that we do not recycle and resell confiscated drugs. We also wanted people to know that we dispose through destruction controlled chemicals upon the issuance of a court order),” said PDEA Deputy Director General Ricardo Quinto.
Quinto said that the burning of drugs and expired medicines is mandated by the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002, provided that a court order has been issued for such purpose.
Ruiz led the opening of PDEA-7’s three-key door storage room at around 9 a.m. He has possession of one of the keys while the two others are with their chief chemist and evidence custodian.
PDEA personnel started to bring out the drugs and expired medicines and loaded these into a waiting vehicle. The contraband were later transported to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junquera Street.
The drugs and medicines were tested by PDEA-7 chemists to check its authenticity before these were burned at around 11 a.m.
The burning process lasted 15 to 20 minutes and was witnessed by PDEA-7 officials, representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Public Attorneys Office (PAO), NGO’s, health sector and the Cebu media.
Engineer Eberto Ebo, the incinerator operator, said that the burning process did not leave any residue. \