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[av_heading heading=’ DRUG DEN NEAR UNIVERSITY PDEA raids boardinghouse ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Friday, August 18, 2017
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ILOILO City – A boardinghouse near a university doubled as a drug den, according to the new director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6, Wardly Getalla.
In a buy-bust operation, PDEA operatives arrested five persons from the boardinghouse on Jalandoni Street, Barangay Villa Anita, City Proper. One of those arrested was a student at nearby University of San Agustin.
“We caught them having a pot session in a room. The boardinghouse was being used as drug den and we’re alarmed. It was near a university,” said Getalla.
The following suspects were taken to the PDEA-6 detention facility on Wednesday night:
- John Roji Llanera, 27, of Barangay Gimbalaon, Silay, City, Negros Occidental
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Jamil Salem, 24, of Puerto Real subdivision, La Paz district
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Raycon Yumo, 29, Barangay San Antonio, Molo district
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Edsel Gregorius, 18, of Barangay Delgado, City Proper
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Jokshan Cesar Gonzales, 25, of Jalandoni Street, Barangay Villa Anita.
According to Getalla, Gregorius was a college student while Gonzales was the boardinghouse owner.
A PDEA operative was able to buy a sachet of shabu from Gonzales for P500, said the director.
Four more sachets and empty sachets of shabu, and a .38 revolver were recovered.
Getalla did not discount the possibility that more students may have known the three-storey boardinghouse as a drug den and became customers there.
The suspects face a charge for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
This was the first successful antidrug operation of PDEA-6 under Getalla who took over the regional office’s top post just this Tuesday.
It was also carried out a day after the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Iloilo City passed an ordinance creating the Iloilo City Dangerous Drugs Administrative Board (ICDDAB).
This Board “shall accept and investigate complaints on drug-related activities and shall generally target drug dealers, dens and warehouses,” according to Councilor R Leone Gerochi, author of the ordinance.
“Kun kabalo ka nga ang isa ka lugar ginagamit as drug den or ginagamit sa mga drug transactions or naga-manufacture, pwede mo ma-report sa Board. May rules and regulations na sya. May rules of procedure man. Ang gina-target is to eradicate areas kon sa diin nagakatabo ang drug transactions,” said Gerochi.
Gerochi is the chairman of the SP committee on good government and public accountability that held public hearings on the Board’s creation. He said the Board is in accordance with Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The ICDDAB will have the following functions and authority:
- accept notarized complaints regarding any place or premises within the city that have been used on two or more occasions as site or venue or drug dens for pot sessions and other similar activities
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hear, accept evidence, resolve and impose penalty
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file a complaint seeking permanent injunction against any place or premises declared after due proceedings, as nuisance./PN
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