No immediate suspension for Ermita's SK chairman

The SK chairman of barangay Ermita, Cebu City who was caught in the act of selling shabu together with his minor store helper cannot just immediately be removed or suspended from his post until he is proven guilty in court.

This was the reaction yesterday of DILG-7 assistant regional director Pedro Noval Jr. on the arrest of Ermita SK chairman Carl Magno Tude, 21, last Sunday night by the elements of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau of the Cebu City Police Office.

PO2 Joel Cunan along with a police informer reportedly bought a pack of shabu worth P200 from the store owned by Tude's mother, identified only as a certain "Bebot", in an interior portion of Ermita.

According to raiding team leader SPO1 Filomeno Mendaros of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office, the female minor who tended the sari-sari store received the marked money from Cunan.

The minor reportedly took a pack of suspected shabu from an "estante" (glass case) normally used by stores to display goods/items, and then handed the proceeds over to Tude.

Cunan and other policemen deployed in the area then moved to arrest the two, but some residents reportedly started hurling empty beer bottles at the raiding team, prompting Cunan to fire warning shots.

The CIIB then called the Crime Suppression Unit for assistance. Police said they recovered eight more packs of suspected shabu from the glass case.

Noval also said that the DILG also does not have the power to implement an automatic suspension against the SK official.

But if Tude cannot immediately post bail and can no longer serve his constituents in barangay Ermita, only then can he be replaced by his first SK councilor.

"I-prubar una na kay wa pa may finality kay it's only the court who can say nga duna gyud siyay sala," Noval said.

He said that once the case will also be filed, DILG cannot also immediately order his preventive suspension as they will still determine the gravity of his case.

Meanwhile Ermita barangay captain Felicisimo "Emok" Rupinta, who insisted that his SK chairman is innocent, also questioned how Tude was arrested.

Rupinta said the team should only get the shabu they allegedly bought from him during the buy-bust and should not have searched the store since they did not have a search warrant.

Because of this Rupinta believed that the case that will be filed against Tude in court will not prosper.

City police director Melvin Gayotin said Rupinta should not defend suspected drug personalities in his barangay as his statements might be misconstrued that he is tolerating drug trade among his constituents.

Gayotin also said that he can understand why Rupinta is doing so since the SK chairman is his ally in politics.

Meanwhile, Cebu City Council majority floor leader Jocelyn Pesquera, the chairwoman of the Cebu City Youth Development Commission, said the arrest of Tude for allegedly selling shabu is just an isolated case.

Pesquera asked the public not to drag the entire SK Federation into the incident.

"Let us not drag the entire federation on the case involving the SK chairman of Ermita. We will not condemn him immediately but instead let us find ways to rehabilitate him," Pesquera said, adding that some SK chairmen are doing well.

In a separate interview, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said it was not an isolated case.

"It's not an isolated case. SK as a whole are vulnerable...I am not surprised because the problem of drugs is a social menace," Rama said. - Garry B. Lao and Flor Perolina