‘Shabu queen,’ sons arrested in Taguig

MANILA, Philippines - A woman tagged by police as Taguig City’s “shabu queen” and her two sons were arrested Thursday.

Fe Bergonia, 43; her sons Tammy, 21, and Randolph, 19; and Reynante Sabanal, 26, were nabbed in her house in Upper Bicutan, a few blocks away from the village hall and a few feet from a private elementary school. Personnel from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Taguig City police and the city government conducted the arrest.

“For her notoriety, she was tagged as the ‘shabu queen’ of Taguig and had a warrant of arrest in 2004 for violation of the anti-drug law,” PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said in a statement.

The law enforcers seized 15 sachets of shabu, assorted drug paraphernalia, a digital weighing scale and five cell phones from the suspects, who are included in the PDEA’s watchlist and have been under surveillance for the past two months, Cacdac said.

“After two years of hiding, she was arrested in 2006 by the local police drug enforcement unit. She was released on bail, but continued with her operations until now. In addition to this, she even uses children as runners to do her dirty work,” he alleged.

The PDEA chief said Bergonia’s group allegedly runs a “one-stop shop” for drug users in their vicinity and supplies the drug to several parts of Metro Manila.

Cacdac said the group has reportedly been using children as young as eight years old as couriers to conceal their drug activities.