Payatas barangay exec arrested for cutting trees

A Quezon City barangay chairwoman was arrested by the police on Tuesday afternoon shortly after she emerged from a court hearing at the Hall of Justice. Her crime: illegally cutting trees.

Chief Inspector Rodolfo Hernandez, city hall police detachment chief, said Emenita Pecson, barangay chairwoman of Barangay Payatas, was nabbed by his men by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Apolinario Bruselas Jr. last Monday.

Pecson is facing graft charges for allegedly ordering the cutting of trees inside the La Mesa Dam and Water Reservoir on Jan. 29 last year for the construction of a barangay post, a beerhouse and other structures.

Ironically, Pecson was a recipient, of an environment award given by Isabela Rep. Heherson Alvarez last week.

Payatas residents led by Virgilio Baliwagan, Bernardo Apurillo and Mariano Dumaoal, charged that the land was instead used as a junk yard, which Pecson allowed. Junk shops were set up by the Payatas Junk Shop Owners and Scavengers Associations (PAJOSA), which is headed by the barangay chairwoman.

"The cutting of trees was done without permit of the authorities concerned. It was done on Pecson's orders who even provided a vehicle to haul the illegally cut Glemina trees," the charge sheet of the Office of the Ombudsman read.

In an interview, Pecson denied ordering the cutting of the trees, claiming the charges were politically motivated since Apurillo and company lost to her colleagues during the last polls.

Meanwhile, a suspected Filipino-Chinese drug pusher was arrested by agents of the police Anti-Narcotics Group with three kilos of shabu in Quezon City last Tuesday.

Agents led by Chief Inspector Leonardo Suan nabbed Tony Uy after he delivered the drugs worth some P4 million to an undercover agent at the corner of Santolan Road and Granada St. at about 11:40 a.m.

Also taken from Uy was his sister's Toyota Corolla GLI with plate number WAR-866. At about 2:50 p.m. that same day, police agents raided a townhouse unit, reportedly owned by the suspect, at 318-CI Villa Ortigas I, Santolan Road and seized one more kilo of shabu worth P2 million.

Also arrested during the raid were Johnson Derama and two women, Ana Ramos and Alma Lorilla. The suspects are detained at Camp Crame as charges of drug trafficking are being readied. -- Mike Frialde