With ‘no’ relief goods yet, ‘hungry man’ turns to drugs

Nestor Alcover is caught selling illegal drugs in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City at past 10 p.m. of April 10, 2020. | Norman Mendoza

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — A man, who turned to selling illegal drugs because he was hungry and claimed the barangay officials had not yet delivered relief goods, was arrested at past 10 p.m. today, April 10, 2020, in Sitio Pilit, Barangay Cabancalan, Mandaue City.

Nestor Alcover, 40, a resident of the sitio, was caught selling suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in the area, said Police Lieutenant Troy John Lalamunan, Casuntingan Police Station chief.

Lalamunan said they conducted the operation after they received information about Alcover’s alleged illegal activities in the sitio.

Police recovered 5 grams of suspected shabu from the suspect, which had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P34,000.

Lalamunan also said that Alcover was a newly identified drug personality in the barangay.

Alcover told CDN Digital in an interview at the Casuntingan Police Station detention cell that he was forced to turn to drugs because food in the barangay had become scarce due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

He said that he lost his job as a construction worker and a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver because of the ECQ, a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

He claimed that the barangay had not yet delivered the relief goods, and he was hungry, and so he turned to selling illegal drugs so that he could have money to buy food.

He said that he also needed the money because he was the breadwinner of the family.

He said he was single but he was the one taking care of his parents, who are both senior citizens.

Police Lieutenant Lalamunan, however, said that he did not believe Alcover’s claims because the Mandaue City government and the barangays had been doing their job in distributing relief goods to their constituents.

He also said that the suspect even got his illegal drugs allegedly in Barangay Mabolo in Cebu City.

Alcover also told police that he did not know the person who sold illegal drugs to him and that “sugat-sugat lang kuno ang paagi” (the drugs would be acquired through a meet up with the unidentified person).

He said in his case, he met with an unidentified man in Barangay Mabolo.

Alcover was detained at the Casuntingan Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges.

Earlier, Police Colonel Jonathan Abella, Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) chief, warned drug dealers that the police were not letting up in their anti-illegal drug operations and were continuing to go after these people involved in the selling of illegal drugs and also those involved in illegal gambling.

Read more: Cops seize P300K shabu, nab 2 HVIs in Tipolo bust

Abella gave the warning after five police stations in the MCPO arrested several suspected drug dealers in the last part of March and the first and second weeks of April.

Read more: Police nab two suspected drug dealers in Mandaue City

These included the buy-bust operation on April 7, 2020 in Barangay Tipolo where P306,000 worth of illegal drugs was confiscated by Subangdaku Police Station. | dbs