Vegetable farmers learn ‘painful cost’ of planting marijuana
Two farmers, who planted P8.8 million worth of marijuana plants in Balamban, arrested
The Balamban Police and First Provincial Mobile Force Company of Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) uproot and burn marijuana plants and arrested two vegetable farmers during an operation in Sitio Lacdon, Barangay Cabasiangan, Balamban, Cebu, at 10:30 a.m., on Friday, April 17, 2020.| Photo courtesy of Balamban Police Station
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two farmers, who turned to planting marijuana plants from their usual crops of vegetables because they believed they could earn more from them, learned the hard way the cost of doing something illegal after police raided their plantation in Balamban town in western Cebu and arrested them.
Albert Sernobis Medio, 40, and Emeliano Ardemia Baguio, 38, who were once vegetable farmers turned marijuana planters, were caught inside their hut in the hinterland Sitio of Lacdon, Barangay Cabasiangan of Balamban town at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 17, 2020, said Police Major Christian Torres, Balamban Police Station chief, in a phone interview.
One of their partner farmers, Lesbert Borres, managed to escape when he jumped off the window of the hut during the raid.
“Pag abot namo ni lukso siya sa likod sa payag wala na ma abti,” said Torres.
(When we arrived, the man jumped off [the window] at the back of the hut and escaped.)
He said Medio and Baguio failed to escape because we already surrounded their hut.
He said that Medio and Baguio’s marijuana plantation had 22,200 fully grown marijuana plants which had an estimated worth of P8.8 million.
Torres said that they uprooted these marijuana plants and burned them.
They, however, took a few stalks with them as proof of their raid.
The farmers told Torres that they only planted marijuana plants starting this year.
They said that the plant leaves when dried were more expensive than the vegetables they were used to planting.
They said that they had a buyer in Cebu City, who was the reason they planted marijuana.
They however did not know the buyer since he would send different people whom they too did not know the names to pick up the dried marijuana leaves.
Torres said that aside from the fully grown marijuana plants, they also confiscated sacks of dried marijuana leaves that were ready to be sold to a buyer.
Friday’s raid was also a joint operation of the Balamban police and the and First Provincial Mobile Force Company of Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO).
The raid was conducted a day after the Cebu City Police Office policemen raided a marijuana plantation in the hinterland barangay of Cebu City on Thursday, April 16. The policemen uprooted and burned P1.2 million worth of marijuana plants in Barangay Adlaon, Cebu City.
Read more: Cebu City police eye planting bamboo on former marijuana plantation sites
On the Balamban raid, Torres said that they knew about the plantation about a month ago but they did not conduct the operation until today because of other pressing concerns like the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
On Friday, they conducted the raid and arrested the farmers, who were detained at the Balamban Police Station pending the filing of charges./dbs
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