PDEA chief of operations David Maramba (in black shirt) looks over the filing of charges against 58-year-old Editha Ymas Paul (right) and her daughter Maricris at the office of Assistant City Prosecutor Noel Cellona (seated left). (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
No bail was recommended for the mother and daughter from barangay Lorega who were arrested for claiming a package with P8 million worth of shabu, some hidden in the soles of rubber sandals, from a courier service last Monday.
“We didn’t know what was in the box. We were just asked to claim it,” Editha Paul, 58, told reporters in Cebuano.
“If we had known that the contents of the box were drugs, we would not have agreed to take the package.”
Asked who sent them to claim the box, she refused to answer. Her daughter Maricris, 32, expressed regret over receiving the package.
The family’s house was burned down in the big fire that hit Lorega last March.
Drug charges were filed yesterday by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) against the mother and daughter at the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.
On Tuesday night, two other women were arrested on suspicion of dealing P2.5 million worth of shabu at the overpass between Natalio Bacalso Avenue and Salazar Street in barangay Labangon, Cebu City.
The women didn’t resist arrest and told police their supplier was from Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
The women were identifed as Teresa Bulambao, 40, and Cristeta Montebon, 48, of barangay Tejero, said SPO4 Dodong Tano of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group.
Four large packs and three medium packs of shabu were seized from them after a two-week surveillance.
PDEA agents arrested the mother and daughter after they claimed a package containing 20 large packs of shabu, weighing 50 grams each, at a commercial courier.
They had no lawyer to represent them at the inquest where they waived a preliminary investigation. Charges will be elevated to the Regional Trial Court.
Both will be detained at the Cebu City jail as they await trial on a charge of violating article 2, section 5 of Republic Act No. 9165 also known as Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act which prohibits the sale and distribution of illegal drugs.
It they are convicted, they face life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000 to P10,000,000. / With USJR Intern Zonah Mae K. Perez
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