Sachet of suspected shabu found inside Zapatera Barangay Hall

A sachet of suspected illegal drugs was found in an envelope inside this office of suspended barangay captain Francisco Benedicto inside the barangay hall of Zapatera in Cebu City. CDN Digital photo | Alven Marie A. Timtim

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A sachet of suspected shabu was found inside an office at the barangay hall of Zapatera here late Monday night, January 6, 2020.

Barangay employees found the sachet inside an envelop in the office of suspended barangay captain (village chief) Francisco Benedicto at the end of a session at around 10 p.m.

Benedicto was suspended by the Cebu City Council for various allegations last December 20, 2019.

Read: Zapatera chief facing preventive suspension: I am innocent

According to barangay officer-in-charge (OIC) Juan Flores Jr., he asked some of the barangay employees to look for the cord of their hall’s biometric system, after agreeing that it must be put to use after the suspension of Benedicto.

Removing the biometrics system at the barangay hall to prevent personnel from logging in to report to work was among the accusations against Benedicto that led to his preventive suspension.

Flores disclosed that while employees were going through the things inside Benedicto’s office, they were caught by surprise when they found the alleged sachet in an envelope.

Realizing that it could be an illegal drugs, Flores said they immediately called the Parian police to report the incident.

“Wala man mi mag expect nga naay shabu,” said Flores.

(We were not expecting to find illegal drugs.)

Flores clarified that they are not accusing Benedicto of owning the sachet but only reported the incident to the police since it was the right thing to do.

CDN Digital tried to get the side of Benedicto on this matter. But as of this writing, the village chief has not replied yet.

https://www.facebook.com/cdndigital/videos/473530113355874/

Police Chief Master Sergeant Rommel Bancog of the Parian Police Station told reporters that they will submit the  suspected illegal drugs to the crime laboratory for examination.

He said they will be conducting further investigation on the case. He also clarified that, as of press time, no one is subjected for arrest as they are still working to determine who owned the alleged illegal drugs.

“Kung naay maka tistigos kinsay nag butang didto, depende sa circumstantial evidence namo, kinsay ma tumbok… kung bug-at na gani pwede nato ma file ang kaso,” said Bancog.

(It will depend if there would be a witness who could point to a possible suspect but it will depend on the circumstantial evidence we have. If there is a bigger lead, then we could file a case.)

Watch Bancog’s interview here:

https://www.facebook.com/cdndigital/videos/574827420035906/

/bmjo