A 17-year-old minor (in a blue towel), was rescued by the Cebu City police during a buy-bust operation conducted in barangay Punta Princesa in Cebu City on November 6, 2021. His alleged 33-year-old cohort was also arrested. | Photo courtesy of CCPO-CIU
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City police have observed an increase in the number of newly identified individuals engaged in illegal drug activities here.
They, however, were not able to provide figures to support this but in their general observation, big-time drug personalities have resorted to recruiting these individuals to continue their illegal business.
Police also noted that the majority of those apprehended cited poverty as the main reason why they were forced to engage in the illegal drug trade.
Reports from other cities, such as Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, show that most of the those they have arrested come from Cebu City.
On Saturday dawn, February 12, a woman identified as Joylyn Andamon of Barangay Basak Pardo was arrested with a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million in Barangay Alang-Alang in Mandaue City.
READ: Woman caught with P6.8M worth of ‘shabu’ in Mandaue City
A few hours later, on Saturday evening, a man identified as Jomar Espina who is a resident of Barangay Tejero in Cebu City was killed during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Casili in Mandaue City. Police confiscated P6.8 million worth of drugs from the suspect as well.
Police said the two probably have the same drug supplier.
READ: Mandaue City cops kill drug suspect, recover P6.8M ‘shabu’
Police Lieutenant Colonel Maria Theresa Macatangay, in an interview, said that according to their data collated from several years ago, their confiscations of illegal drugs have decreased in Cebu City alone.
This, according to Macatangay is an indication that entry of illegal drugs in the city was already limited. She, however, added that the problem of illegal drugs is a perennial one.
If this could not be stopped, at least this could be lessened, she said. Relentless police operations are not enough as one huge factor in fighting this is the constant cooperation from the public, Macatangay stressed.
Once the community will stop reporting to the police about illegal drug activities in their area, culprits will continue to operate.
Last February 12, CCPO personnel were able to confiscate a total of 790 grams of ‘shabu’ worth around P4million during their conduct of Simultaneous Anti Criminality and Law Enforcement Operations (SACLEO) and arrested 40 drug suspects.
Of the 40 suspects, 13 were high-value individuals while 27 were those at the street level, police said. /rcg