PDEA nabs mayoralty bet for cocaine

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents arrested a Mandaluyong City mayoralty candidate for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent yesterday morning.

Ernest Buan, 28, of the political party Aksyon Demokratiko, was collared in front of a fastfood store within the Tiendesitas shopping complex in Barangay Ugong, Pasig City at around 2:24 a.m.

PDEA-Complaint Reaction Unit (CRU) chief, Major Val Lopez, said anti-narcotics agents of the Metro Manila Regional Office (MMRO) led by Superintendent Wilkins Villanueva carried out the entrapment.

He said five one-gram sachets of cocaine, believed to be worth around P20,000, were confiscated from Buan after he was arrested.

PDEA director general Dionisio Santiago said an investigation will be conducted if the cocaine reportedly sold by Buan is linked to the cocaine bricks found floating in the waters of Eastern and Northern Samar.

“We’ll have to find out,” he told The STAR, noting that China and the US are helping in the probe, which also involves monitoring the movement of cocaine in the Philippines.

As for Buan’s arrest, Santiago said “PDEA does not make distinctions, so they should be careful. We don’t have holidays; we work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Cocaine has a street value of P4 million per kilo in the Philippines, and a gram sells for P4,000, PDEA said.

Lopez said PDEA, on Santiago’s orders, is intensifying its anti-illegal drug operations in Metro Manila against big-time drug pushers.  

He said Buan’s arrest is the result of such an operation since he is running for mayor in one of Metro Manila’s most progressive localities. Buan is reportedly a real estate broker.

Reports have it that Buan, a resident of Cordillera street in Mandaluyong, has ties with the Liberal Party. There are posters of Buan with Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Roxas II, the LP’s presidential and vice presidential bets.

Aksyon Demokratiko said that “should it become clear that the arrest was justified and not politically motivated, we will not hesitate to withdraw our nomination.”

Meanwhile, Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Paul Oaminal said Buan’s arrest warrants a deeper investigation to determine where the cocaine came from.

“It could not be denied that cocaine is already here. What was seized in Davao could not have been transshipped but really intended for Philippine consumption,” he told The STAR, referring to about 16 kilos of cocaine discovered in a shipping container in Davao City last month.

Former DDB chairman Vicente Sotto III raised concerns over how drug syndicates peddling cocaine are trying to enter the Philippine market, where most drug users choose methamphetamine hydrochloride and marijuana.          – With Aurea Calica