Two village execs caught with arms, shabu in Asturias
Assorted firearms and ammunition were seized from Barangay Manguiao Chairman Mario Delfin Tundag (seated left) and Barangay Sta. Rita Councilman Camilo Dacal who are now detained at the Asturias Police Precinct.
CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza
Two barangay officials in Asturias town, northwest Cebu, with alleged links to self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones were arrested in separate raids at their homes at past 5 a.m. yesterday.
Teams from the Cebu Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) and Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) first arrested Barangay Manguiao Chairman Mario Delfin Tundag at his home at 5:40 a.m. yesterday.
Taken from Tundag’s possession was one KG9 rifle placed inside a barangay ambulance parked outside his home.
Five minutes later, police searched the house of Barangay Sta. Rita Councilman Camilo Dacal who yielded two .45 pistols, ammunition and one medium-sized pack of shabu.
Supt. Mario Baquiran Jr., PPSC commander, said the two barangay officials are affiliated with Sabalones.
“Kumbaga sila yung mga ‘down lines’ ni Sabalones (They are called the ‘down lines’ of Sabalones),” Baquiran said.
Baquiran said both barangay officials are considered high-value drug targets in the province who sell illegal drugs in Asturias and Tuburan towns.
Senior Insp. Nazareno Emia, PIB deputy chief, said Tundag and Dacal gave names of some incumbent officials engaged in the illegal drug trade.
Baquiran said they are investigating these officials and will take action on them soon.
For their part, the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) warned those engaged in drug use and peddling that the campaign against illegal drugs will be more intensive in the grassroots level in the next few months.
“Our president (Rodrigo Duterte) is serious in the war against illegal drugs. And it’s getting intensive as more ‘high-valued targets’ such as public officials, are being arrested,” CPADAO chief Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca said.
Meca said Dacal was included in the list of narco-politicians being monitored by the Oversight Committee on Illegal Drugs of which she is a member.
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