Soldier caught packing shabu to face court martial

An active member of the Philippine Air Force with his three cohorts who was caught repacking metamphetamine hydrocholoride in Lipa City last Wednesday may face court martial proceedings if there is enough evidence to charge him with violation of the Articles of War.

PAF chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said Sgt. Joel Buño, who was arrested along with three civilians in Barangay San Carlos for the alleged offense, would be “harshly punished according to the military justice system.

“Yes, it would be the General Court Martial (GCM). How I wish I could impose the punishment immediately but we have to follow (the process),” he said.

Cadungog said it would be up to Buño’s superior to relieve the airman from his post.

“Offenders and law breakers have no place in the Air Force. Command discipline dictates that offenders and drug fiends caught will have to answer for their misdeeds. As the PAF is generous in giving out rewards and recognition to achievers and winners, it will not hesitate to indict offenders and will remain adamant to subject scalawags under the full force of the law,” he said.

A report that reached the Air Force Headquarters named Buño, a resident of Barangay Banay-banay, Lipa City, Batangas, as the man who was caught repacking the illegal drug along with three other civilian men in one of the rooms of Meadow Lodge in Barangay San Carlos, Lipa City. 

The local police recovered drug paraphernalia such as 13 pieces of rolled aluminum foil used for sniffing, four pieces of disposable lighter, a bundle of plastic sachet, a glass pipe, a roll of aluminum foil, a pair of scissors, and five pieces of rectangular transparent plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu.

These were submitted to the PNP Crime Laboratory for examination while Buño and his cohorts were detained by the local police.  – With Arnell Ozaeta