3 men nabbed in Bukidnon over shabu

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Soldiers intercepted Wednesday afternoon three drug couriers at a highway in Carmen town, who were on their way to deliver shabu to a buyer in Damulog, Bukidnon.

The suspects, Clifford Baylon, 33, Edcelso Piang, 24, and Joy Kalingalan, 26, were riding motorcycles on their way to Damulog town when soldiers inspecting vehicles passing through a North Cotabato-Bukidnon Highway noticed them pull over before the checkpoint and throw away something from their pockets.

The soldiers also saw Kalingalan hurl a small plastic bag filled with shabu into a tricycle passing by.

Captain Tony Bulao, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said soldiers frisked the three men and discovered that the suspects  tried to dispose of their illegal merchandise when they noticed there was a checkpoint ahead.

The unannounced inspection of vehicles at the Sayre Highway in Carmen was part of the 602nd Brigade’s campaign against carrying of firearms in support of the barangay elections gun ban being imposed by the Commission on Elections.

Baylon, Piang and Kalangalan have confessed they were to bring shabu to a buyer somewhere in Bukidnon, according to Bulao.

Bulao said the suspects have been turned over to the Carmen municipal police, which will charge them with violation of the Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. - John Unson