Sinas: Some candidates use drug money to fund their campaign

Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The recovery of 750 grams of illegal drugs during the conduct of their Synchronized Enhanced Management Police Operations (Sempo) in Negros Oriental on Saturday, March 30, was an indication that shabu continues to proliferate in Central Visayas.

Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), does not discount the possibility that there are also candidates in the May 13 election who benefit from illegal drug sales to fund their campaign.

Sinas said that they are constantly coordinating with the Central Visayas office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to track down the source of these illegal drugs which he said has grown rampant during the election season.

“We have a joint consensus with PDEA-7 and we both received reports that the drugs are hoarded to be sold during the election period,” said Sinas.

“Dili gani Sempo makakuha natag 100 to 150 grams. Alarming na kaayo na siya,. (Even in our non-Sempo operations, we are still able to confiscated 100 to 150 grams (of shabu). This is now very alarming),” he said.

Sinas said that both the PRO-7 and PDEA-7 have been getting reports on the hoarding of shabu that are now slowly released into the market for disposal during the campaign period.

“Mao na among gibantayan kay biglang nawala napud. Basin naghuwat ra sila nga ipagawas na pud sunod. (We are now on the lookout because supply appears to be diminishing for now. Drug suppliers may be waiting for the right timing to release their supply into the market),” said Sinas.

But he assured Cebuanos that the shabu that are sold here are not locally produced.  Cebu’s supply was traced to have come from  the National Capital Region.

Sinas said that the police and PDEA-7 are closely monitoring the seaports and airports in the province to track the movement of illegal drugs here.

“Nagbantay man sad ni sila sa movement sa police. So mag change pud mig strategy aron ma trace na gyod namo ang source. (These drug groups are also monitoring the movements of the police.  We also have to change our strategies to be able to efficiently trace the sources),” said Sinas. /dcb