An 18-year-old high-school student was caught in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Duljo Fatima, on February 29, 2020, with P5.4 million worth of suspected shabu. | Photo Courtesy of Police Captain Renz Talosig
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Barangay Duljo-Fatima residents are encouraged to report drug personalities hiding in the area.
Police Captain Renz Talosig, Mambaling Police Station chief, made the appeal after they arrested an 18-year-old female senior high school dropout during a buy-bust operation in Sitio Riverside, Barangay Duljo Fatima at early morning of February 29, 2020.
Police earlier in the day arrested Alessandra Madrigal after they caught her with 795 grams of suspected shabu during the Barangay Duljo Fatima operation.
Talosig said that the confiscated suspected shabu had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P5.4 million.
Call to Duljo Fatima residents
With this arrest, Talosig again made the appeal to Duljo Fatima residents to help them so that they could clean the barangay of illegal drugs.
“Kanang mga tawo diha sa area, kinahanglan mag report pud sila, unta mo tabang sila ba. Kung naa silay ma kitan ireport nila sa atong istasyon para ma aksyunan dayun,” said Talosig in an interview.
(Those residents in the area they should report those drug personalities. They should help us. If they see something suspicious, they can always report this to the police station so that we can take action on it.)
However, Talosig said that he could not blame the Duljo Fatima residents for not reporting the presence of drug personalities in the area because some of them did not know who these persons were.
Read more: Duljo Fatima resident, an HVT, nabbed with P136K shabu in Mandaue
He said that this would be because these drug personalities were just in the Duljo Fatima to hide and rest before they would head out to other areas to distribute illegal drugs.
This meant that Duljo Fatima residents did not know the drug personalities at all.
High value individual
However, there are times when some Duljo Fatima residents would be used as safekeepers of the illegal drugs, which was what allegedly happened with the arrest of Madrigal.
Talosig said that Madrigal was a high-value individual (HVI) which was a subject for verification for almost two weeks.
He said they received reports about the involvement of Madrigal to illegal activities from concerned citizens.
But when she was asked, she said she was only tasked to keep the drugs and allowed to sell a few grams.
Madrigal, who works for a computer shop near his home, is said to be able to dispose 50 to 200 grams a week of illegal drugs.
Talosog said Madrigal refused to talk or give the name of her drug source.
Madrigal is now detained at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) detention facilities pending the filing of the charges for violation of section 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165 or the comprehensive dangerous drugs act.
Community’s help needed
Talosig said that as they continue to intensify their police buy-bust operations and patrolling in the area just to secure the residents and monitor illegal activities, he was hoping the community would also cooperate and assist the police.
“Without the help of the community, dili nato ni masugpo (Without the community’s help, we won’t be able to end this [illegal drug problem]),” said Talosig.