Jobless dad nabbed after turning to selling drugs to raise 9 kids

Eduardo Panugaling is caught with suspected shabu worth at least P200,000 during a buy-bust operation in Capitol Site in Cebu City on June 29. | Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Without a job, a former construction worker and a father of nine children turned to selling illegal drugs to get a fast buck to feed his family.

A decision that he would regret after he was arrested at past 1 a.m. on Saturday, June 29, during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Capitol Site in Cebu City.

Eduardo Panugaling, 48, was caught with 35 grams of suspected shabu during the Capitol Site operation, said Police Captain Dexter Basirgo, Guadalupe Police Precinct chief, in an interview with CDN Digital.

Basirgo said that the suspected shabu confiscated from Panugaling had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P238,000.

With his arrest, Panugaling told CDN Digital in an interview that he could no longer support his family since he would now be in jail.

He said after his work as an extra construction worker was finished, he was left with no job and nothing to support his family with.

He said a friend, who was recently arrested for selling illegal drugs, allegedly convinced him to earn cash by being a drug courier.

He said he got hooked to selling illegal drugs after he sold a sachet and earned easy cash.

So he said he continued to allegedly sell illegal drugs until his luck run out at dawn on Saturday when he got arrested in a buy-bust operation.

This was the second jobless man who turned to illegal drugs and was arrested in a span of six days. Last June 23, a Barangay Carreta resident was arrested after he was caught with P748,000 worth of suspected shabu.

Read more: Jobless man from Carreta nabbed for possession of 110 grams of shabu

Panugaling was detained at the Guadalupe Police Precinct pending the filing of charges.

Earlier in Naga City in southern Cebu, Naga Police officers caught three employees of a company in the city and a suspected drug pusher in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Inayagan at past 10 p.m. on Friday, June 28.

Police Major Jason Villamater, Naga Police Station chief, said they conducted the operation after a businessman informed them about his suspicion that his employees were using illegal drugs.

So they monitored them and caught them going to a suspected drug pusher in the area.

At past 10 p.m., Villamater said they conducted the operation and caught the three employees allegedly using shabu inside the house of the suspected pusher.

Villamater said they arrested the suspected pusher, Reste Fat, 37; truck driver Daniel Serina Jr., 31; warehouseman Eric Arnado, 20; and helper Rey Ramos, 25.

He said that Fat was caught with suspected shabu with an estimated DDB value of P40,800.

A .357 Magnum revolver was also confiscated from Fat.

The four suspects were detained at the Naga Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges./dbs