CEBU, Philippines – The five Nursing students who were arrested in the buy-bust operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency last April 3 have posted bail after charges were elevated to the Regional Trial Court.
Jersome Armecin, Ralph Tamelin, Christopher Roy, Dominic Cohen, and Sunshine Alicaya, all fourth-year nursing students of the University of Southern Philippines, posted P120,000 bail yesterday.
The five have been charged by the PDEA with violation of Section 7 of the Dangerous Drugs Act or the “visiting of a drug den.”
They were arrested by PDEA operatives who acted on telephone complaints that many students were sniffing shabu in that part of barangay Pasil.
The five said that they were in Pasil that time to claim pawned items when they got caught in the rain and took shelter in a shack where there were video carrera units.
The owner of the den, identified as Junrey Chavez, was also arrested along with his runner Arthur Ybañez, and was charged with violation of Section 5 and had not been granted bail for the offense.
A PDEA agent first bought two packs of shabu from Chavez in a test buy before other operatives surrounded and entered the site - a simple room where drug users were gathered sniffing shabu, according to the PDEA.
The students said they went to the area Friday afternoon to claim a digital camera and a mobile phone which were earlier pawned by Cohen and Armecin. When it started to rain, they took shelter in a room where there were video carrera machines. They said that they decided to play carrera games while waiting for the rain to stop.
At about that time, the police arrived and arrested nine other persons including a certain Gwendolyn, Junito Gaviola, Jeffrey Chavez, Eljoe Mier, Cecilio Otero, and Alvin Taran.
The students, now detained at the PDEA, denied being part of a shabu session in the said place. — Jasmin R. Uy/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)