'Shabu siopao' seller falls

He made his neighbors in Antipolo City believe that he amassed his fortune selling siopao. Not only that, he was a "godfather" to them because he helped the needy.

However, it turned out that the siopao business of Diosdado Lacanilao, 42, was only a smokescreen to his real trade -- shabu peddling. Last Monday, Lacanilao, along with his wife Lucy and a helper, Marvin Openda, 37, was arrested after he yielded 85 grams of shabu worth about P200,000.

Lacanilao ventured into the siopao business three years ago at his home in Barangay San Isidro. Since then he was able to purchase three cars and began building a multimillion-peso house in nearby Barangay Tanyag.

All the while, his neighbors thought he was doing well in his business. Unknown to them and Lacanilao, however, the police were monitoring his trade after they discovered that he was stuffing sachets of shabu in his siopao before he delivered them to his customers.

Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Antipolo police chief, said they earlier had laid an entrapment for Lacanilao, but failed, until last Monday when Estilles' men, armed with an arrest warrant, raided Lacanilao's home.