Four arrested PDEA “men” not real agents

The four men who were caught conducting a buy-bust “operation” in barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City last Saturday were not members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7, the spokesman of the said office said.

The men were arrested after concerned citizens called up the Lapu-Lapu City police to report their presence.

Lapu-Lapu City Police Station Theft and Robbery Section’s Sr. Insp. Conrado Manatad rushed to the scene and found the suspects had “arrested” Junrey Romero Palomar, 20, in an alleged buy-bust operation for selling drugs.

Police identified the four as Ariel Amoro “Paner” Cacha 34; Christopher Ybañez, 27, both residents of barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City; Felix Lungat, 25 and Beinvenido Mara-Mara, 34, both of sitio Back Pepsi, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

Another companion of the suspects who managed to escape arrest was identified as Maximo “Turagsoy” Catipay Jr., also of sitio Back Pepsi, Mabolo.

PDEA-7 spokesman Levi Valmoria said the four were not their agents and denied there was an anti-illegal drug operation that time in that area.

“Wala mi kaila ana nila.  Mga mini na sila kay kung asset pa na namo duna gyud na sila’y ID ug dunay kaubang organic agent namo,” Valmoria said.

When Manatad approached the group and asked what they were doing in the area, the suspects replied they were members of the PDEA-7 conducting an operation against Palomar.

The police officers then asked for their identification cards but none of them could produce any, prompting the police to arrest them.

Police found a .38 cal. revolver with six live rounds, a pair of handcuffs and 12 packs of suspected shabu from Cacha and another snub-nosed .38 cal. revolver with five live rounds and nine packs of suspected shabu from Mara-Mara.

Lungat and Ybañez were also found with five packs of suspected shabu each while seven packs of the same substance were confiscated from Catipay before he managed to escape.

Lapu-Lapu City Police Station director Sr. Supt. Louie Oppus suspects that the group was out to extort money from the suspects they arrested.

“Kung tinuod pa silang mga PDEA mo-coordinate unta sila daan namo kay mao man nay base sa direktiba sa PNP nga mananghid gyud sa territorial unit ang mo-operate gikan sa ubang unit,” Oppus said.

The Lapu-Lapu police and the PDEA are set to file charges for usurpation of authority against the men.

Valmoria admitted that due to lack of personnel, they sometimes use active civilian agents as source for information, but he said such agents are issued with authentic PDEA identification cards and render service as force multipliers.  — Edwin Ian Melecio/BRP