"Drug queen" freed; Oaminal dismayed

CEBU – Dangerous Drugs Board vice chairman Clarence Paul Oaminal was dismayed when he learned about the release of alleged shabu queen Chuebe Lim a few days after she was arrested in a warranted search in her house that yielded more than 100 grams of shabu.

With this, Oaminal said he would ask the officials of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group- 7 to explain how it happened, knowing that Lim is categorized as a bigtime drug personality in Cebu, and why she was only charged with a crime that is bailable.

Oaminal, a lawyer, said Lim should not be allowed to post bail because the 104 grams of shabu that was seized by the CIDG agents was recovered from her house and that the operation was done by virtue of a search warrant issued by the court.

But CIDG 7 deputy regional director Ritchie Posadas said he is willing to explain to Oaminal why Lim has been allowed to put up a bail bond for her temporary liberty pending the resolution of her case in court.

Posadas said only four grams of shabu has been seized from Lim, while the remaining 100 grams were recovered from the possession of the other drug suspect Grace Alejandrino.

The law provides that a person accused of drug-related charges cannot be allowed to post bail if the quantity of shabu seized from him has reached 50 grams.

Oaminal said he also wants to know if there was really a hearing conducted to reduce Lim’s bail bond to only P160,000.

“Bisan gani og wala kaabot og lima ka gramos sa shabu duna man gani P200 mil nga piyansa, so, mangutana ta kung duna ba’y hearing pag-reduce sa bail.” he said.

“Ang presumption man gud diha mao nga sa pag-conduct og search ang tag-iya gyud sa balay maoy tag-iya sa mga ebidensya nga makita ug makuha,” Oaminal added. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)