YOUTH OFFENDERS AS DRUG COURIERS

DRUG REHAB PROGRAM. Some of the 37 drug dependents, who will undergo the six-month church-based drug rehabilitation program in Barangay Kamputhaw in Cebu City, attend the program launching at the Capitol Parish. Barangay Kamputhaw is the pilot barangay in Cebu City for the program, which was successfully implemented in Barangay Subangdaku in Mandaue City. (See story on page 6)
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

Suspected shabu smuggled to city jail through Operation Second Chance

Three days after Rimer Jay Fajardo was released from the Operation Second Chance Center (OSCC) in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City, he decided to go back through the back door.

The 18-year-old young man climbed the facility’s perimeter fence about 3 a.m. last Saturday, carrying a sack full of cigarette packs.

It turned out he wanted to sneak illegal drugs into the adjacent Cebu City Jail through OSCC, a Cebu City–ran rehabilitation center for minor offenders.

But Fajardo was not able to get to his destination. He was caught by OSCC policemen who later discovered the two sachets of suspected shabu and tin foil inserted in the cigarettes.

On Monday, a small sachet of shabu was found inside in one of the four P100 bills rolled together and inserted in the hole in the perimeter fence that separates OSCC from its neighbor Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor on police matters, is calling for a deeper investigation as the practice of smuggling in shabu through the OSCC has apparently not stopped.

He said City Hall erected a higher perimeter fence, yet inmates were still able to get their stash of shabu through the minor offenders.

One of them was Fajardo, who was committed into the OSCC for frustrated murder on October 28, 2016. He was released last week after the case was provisionally dismissed since he was 17 when he committed the crime.

Under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, a child who commits a crime at age 15 is exempted from criminal liability. Children above 15 years old to 17 are also free from criminal liability unless they acted with discernment in committing an offense.

Fajardo cannot hide under the law that aims to provide youth offenders a chance to be rehabilitated and be fruitful members of society.

Complaints of trespassing and possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia would be filed against him.

OSCC Executive Director Merlina Metante said Fajardo was brought in for questioning after he was caught by the OSCC guards trying to get inside the facility.

“Gi-inspect ang iyang gidalang sako nga ug dunay nakita nga duha ka pakete sa shabu nakatago sa mga sigarilyo (The police inspected the sack he was carrying, and they found two packets of shabu in the packs of cigarettes),” she said.

Tumulak led the search of the items brought by Fajardo and found small sachets containing shabu inserted in one of the cigarette packs. It also came with a tin foil believed to be used for sniffing the illegal drug.

During his visit on Monday, Tumulak also chanced upon another two small packs of shabu, this time in the perimeter fence.

The drugs was wrapped in one of four P100 bills that were rolled together and tied to the end of a cloth string. It was inserted in a small hole in the newly constructed extension of the perimeter wall which separates the OSCC from the city jail.

Authorities had yet to determine where the money and drugs came from, and the identity of the recipient.

It was not the first time that city officials found out that shabu was being smuggled into the city jail through the OSCC, which had beefed up its security earlier this year and prohibited packs of cigarettes inside the facility as preventive measure.

Last April, the same month that the city government assumed complete operational control over the OSCC, officials found several packs of cigarettes thrown into an open area of the OSCC.

Back then, Metante said they were already suspecting that some minor offenders inside the OSCC may have been used by inmates of the city jail to sneak in illegal drugs. Back then, they also saw a small pack of shabu hidden in one of the cigarette packs.

In April alone, 349 packs of cigarettes, 67 lighters and two pairs of scissors were intercepted by OSCC personnel from the minor offenders.

Interestingly, 216 empty plastic sachets were also left lying in an open field in the OSCC, as if waiting to be picked up. Authorities believed that these were intended to be used to repack illegal drugs inside the city jail.

Fajardo’s name had cropped up in earlier investigations as among the couriers of illegal drugs from the OSCC, said Tumulak.

“We found a cell phone in his possession. We discovered that he has been contacting some inmates in the city jail. We already turned over the cell phone to the police for further investigation,” Tumulak said.

The OSCC is said to be the first of its kind in the country — a facility that accepts minor offenders for rehabilitation so they would be separated from hardened, adult criminals.

Unlike the OSCC, the city jail is managed and operated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

The OSCC used to be managed by the BJMP until April this year when the city government took full control and operation of the facility. Along with it, the city has decided to stop accepting minor offenders from other local government units.

There are around 40 City Hall personnel managing the OSCC now which is under the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).
Tumulak said changes must be made in order to stop the smuggling of drugs through the OSCC.

“We really need to heighten the security in Operation Second Chance so this will not happen again. We also need the cooperation of the BJMP’s tower guards to secure their own premises to prevent the sneaking in of contraband into the city jail,” Tumulak said.

Sought for comment, Cebu City Councilor Margarita Osmeña, who initiated the establishment of OSCC, admitted that the city needed to strengthen its efforts in preventing minor offenders from sneaking in drugs to the city jail.

“This isn’t the first time. Measures are being taken but at this point, (but) it’s obviously not enough. We have to be more diligent,” she told Cebu Daily News.

“But it’s good that he was caught. That means the one who caught him was really on guard. It’s much less (cases of smuggling) now. But we hope it can really go to zero,” she added.