Woman rents out house to junkies

Her business savvy may have earned her a few pesos. But it was also her ticket to jail. Imelda Malig Infante, 34, was arrested Monday morning by authorities after she reportedly rented out her house in Muntinlupa City to drug users.

Infante, 34, of Philippine National Railways (PNR) site in Barangay Poblacion, was placed under surveillance over the weekend by members of the city police Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) led by Superintendent Juvenile Sulapas who swooped down her house at around 10:40 a.m.

Infante was caught in possession of a small plastic sachet containing suspected shabu.

During investigation, Infante said renting out the house was an idea of her mother-in-law, Floreta Dadea.

Quoting intelligence reports, arresting officer, Senior Police Officer 2 Giovanni Martinez, said the shabu house had been operating for at least a month. Ironically, the house was only a few meters away from the barangay hall, Martinez said.

Infante had reportedly charged between P5 to P10 for the use of the house. Martinez added that most of the suspect’s clients were drug users between 18-30 years old and were mostly men.

Police failed to catch a single drug user during yesterday’s operation.

Nevertheless, Mayor Jaime Fresnedi commended the DEU, particularly Martinez, PO3 Hector Macalla, and PO1 Reynold Aguirre for the successful arrest of Infante but not without reminding the city’s law enforcers to "exert more effort in pursuing other illegal drug-related crimes," a statement from the city government said.

Police are set to file appropriate charges against Infante. – Nikko Dizon