Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella urged the coastguard and the police to watch over the Pasil fishports for possible entry of illegal drugs. | Delta Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella expressed concern over the admission of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) that 50 kilos of crystal meth, commonly known as shabu, have been smuggled into Cebu by a Marawi City-based drug syndicate.
Labella said that he has instructed Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, the director of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), to strengthen the security of Cebu City and ensure that the drugs could not get to the users.
Furthermore, Labella urged the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to keep a tight watch over the city’s shorelines and coastal areas so that illegal drugs cannot enter through the small boats fronting as fishermen’s vessels.
“You know, the Pasil area, it is a shoreline. There are boats coming from other parts of the Visayas and I don’t think there is enough (police) coverage in those areas,” said the mayor, referring to Barangay Pasil, where the city’s wholesale fish market is located.
The mayor said he would want more police and PCG visibility in the Pasil area because this is a potential entry point for illegal drugs, where they could enter undetected and away from the bigger ports in the city that are well-guarded.
Labella said he is putting his faith on the police that they can stop the illegal drug trade, while assuring that the police and the PCG will get the city’s all-out support in the campaign against illegal drugs.
On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, the director of PRO-7, said the drug syndicate that was once Cebu-based but moved out at the height of the relentless the anti-drug operations during the May 2019 elections managed to take roots in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
The now Marawi-based syndicate has brought to Cebu about 50 kilos of shabu. He said the group still operates mainly in Cebu, sourcing the drugs from Metro Manila.
He said that there are now coordinating with the Marawi City police to put a stop to the drug transactions of the group in the two cities./elb