CLUB OWNERS ASKED
Following the arrest of a Binibining Cebu contestant and a young man for allegedly peddling party drugs, the Cebu City government will be meeting with owners of clubs and bars in the city to remind them of their obligation to help deter the proliferation of illegal drugs.
Councilor David Tumulak, deputy mayor for police matters, said the city will be inviting club owners within the week to discuss possible measures that they can take especially that more parties and events are expected to be held to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. The festivities are expected to continue all the way to the Sinulog Festival, which is held every the third week of January.
“Magpahinumdom ta for their commitment and cooperation. Within this week, ato na silang ipatawag pagpahinumdom nga motabang sila sa atong kapolisan pagmonitor sa ilang mga clubs nga di masudlan sa mga namaligya og party drugs ug uban pang klase sa drugas,” Tumulak said in a phone inteview with Cebu Daily News.
(We will remind them for their commitment and cooperation. We will call them in a meeting within the week to remind them to help the police in monitoring their clubs and prevent the entry of any form of drugs.)
Tumulak said the party organizers and club owners have to cooperate with the police in the campaign against drugs. Otherwise, they too, may face legal repercussions.
“First of all ang mga organizers motabang gyod na sa mga kapolisan sa pagbantay sa ilang mga event to make sure nga dili masagolan og mga batan-on nga magdala aning mga party drugs kay sa higayon nga masakpan sad sila, peligro pod sila nga maapil,” Tumulak said.
(First of all, the organizers should help the police in making sure that their parties will not be penetrated by people who bring illegal drugs because they, too, may be dragged into the case if we catch peddlers in their events.)
“Those young people who engage in drugs know that what they’re doing is illegal. They also know that the campaign against illegal drugs is heightened,” Tumulak said in Cebuano.
Tumulak also urged the police to “double their intelligence gathering” in order to nab more drug peddlers.
“Bisan pa man sa pagsaulog sa Pasko, wa man mohunong ang mga police sa ilang operation pagsumpo sa illegal drugs. Wala gyoy kumo kung undangan nila ang paggamit og drugas aron di sila maalaot ug di masayang ilang ugma,” said Tumulak.
(Even with the Christmas celebrations, our authorities will not stop their operations against illegal drugs. They will lose nothing and gain a lot if they stop using drugs because their future is still in front of them.)
Uncooperative
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is set to file today the charges against the arrested beauty pageant contestant, Teri Marina Colmenares, 22, and Nicole Allan Casiño, 24, for illegal possession and trading of high grade marijuana and party drugs.
Offenses for illegal drugs are non-bailable.
Even as charges would be lodged against them, the investigators of CCPO would continue to trace the source of the high-grade marijuana and the
party drugs peddled by Colmenares and Casiño.
Senior Supt. Royina Garma, CCPO chief, said in an interview that Colmenares refused to cooperate in their investigation.
“Ayaw mag sagot man sa amin eh paano siya matutulungan kung ganyan siya? (She does not answer our questions. How can we help her if she continues to act like that?) She just told me ‘you can talk to my lawyer,’”Garma said.
Colmenares’ phone, which was obtained by the arresting policemen, also served no use in the investigation as it continues to be locked. Colmenares has refused to give the password.
Colmenares, a resident of Barangay Zapatera in Cebu City, was arrested in a follow up buy-bust operation on Saturday after she was pointed out as the source of the party drug seized from Casiño a few hours earlier in Barangay Lahug.
Casiño, 24, was arrested in the first buy-bust operation conducted by the Guadalupe Police Station after a nabbed disc jockey pointed to him as the source of the pill that the latter allegedly used in drugging a minor.
In the follow up buy-bust operation in Barangay Kamputhaw, Colmenares allegedly sold kush weed, a high-grade marijuana, to a police agent posing as buyer.
Senior Insp. Dexter Basirgo, Guadalupe Police Station commander, also said in a separate interview that they were verifying a report that Colmenares sourced the party drugs from her boyfriend who is based abroad.
But Basirgo said they had yet to validate the information since Colmenares continued to refuse to cooperate in their investigations.
No comment
Colmenares, then 21, was one of the Top 25 contestants of the 2018 Binibining Cebu pageant held last October.
The organizers of the pageant refused to issue a statement on Colmenares’ arrest since “it is a personal issue and has nothing to do with the pageant.”
Leah Albiar, public information officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-7), is urging the public to help in the investigation of the police and their agency on Colmenares’ and Casiño’s possible drug network.
Albiar assured the public that the identity of anyone who will give information about the suspects’ transactions will be protected.
“I know the people now are brave and supportive of the President’s crusade against illegal drugs. They will help us,”Albiar added.