PDEA 6 validates involvement
of brgy. officials in drugs trade

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is validating reports that that there are barangay officials in Region 6, particularly in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, who are involved in the illegal drugs trade.

PDEA 6 Intelligence Division chief Cerilo Baluma, however, refused to disclose how many barangay officials are said to be involved, and the extent of their involvement.

Baluma said some barangay officials are uncooperative with PDEA, making it difficult for them to launch anti-illegal drugs operations against suspected pushers in their areas.

He said that, based on the updated record of PDEA 6, there are 306 drug-affected barangays in Western Visayas, 96 of them or about 65 percent, are in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.

Intelligence monitoring also showed that the illegal drug trade in Negros Occidental and in Bacolod City is also affected by the tiempos muertos (dead season) and only a few illegal drug users can continue buying shabu and marijuana because of lack of money, Baluma added.

In its thrust to curb the continued proliferation of illegal drugs in different barangays in the region, PDEA-6 is meeting with barangay officials, especially those whose areas are considered seriously affected by illegal drugs, for the conduct of symposia.

In Bacolod, City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz has ordered the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council in Bacolod City to help them identify or come up with the list of names of individuals involved in illegal drug activities in their areas.

It should be easier for BADAC members to identify illegal drug users and pushers in their areas because they know them better than the police and the PDEA do.

The lists of alleged illegal drug traders that will be forwarded by the BADAC members to the BCPO will be the basis of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group in conducting future buy-bust and stake out operations.*APN

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MANSILINGAN MISHAP
Trike owner surfaces,
driver still at-large

The owner of the tricycle that figured in a collision with a multi-cab-ambulance of Brgy. Felisa, where two persons were killed at about 9 p.m. Sunday in Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City, surfaced Tuesday but the driver still has not shown up.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Eliseo Adraneda said that Romeo Alpas of Green Acres Subdivision, Mansilingan, went to the Traffic Management Unit Tuesday and identified the driver of the tricycle when the accident happened.

Adraneda said the driver, whose name he withheld, was only a substitute for the original one. He said he has met the driver’s father and told him that his son should surface and face his obligations to the victims’ families.

Andraneda stressed that under the law, the owner of the tricycle has civil obligations over the victims while the driver may face criminal charges for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and physical injuries.

Ambulance driver Fernando Adrada, 47, of Purok Matinahuron, Brgy. Felisa, has already been released from detention as no charges have been filed against him.

The ambulance was to bring Anabelle Villanueva, 28, of Brgy. Felisa to the hospital because she had a miscarriage, while the tricycle was on its way to Brgy. Felisa, when the accident happened at Villa Maria Subdivision in Mansilingan.

Passengers Crisanto Pamplona, 38, of Zone 5, and Felix Serna, 66, Zone 8, in Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod, died at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Monday.

Adraneda said Brgy. Felisa Captain Mona Dia Jardin has extended financial help to their families.

Other passengers injured were Alfredo Roquez, 46; Alvin Latergo of Zone 5, Brgy. Handumanan; and Larry Valderama, 55, of Bangga Totong, Brgy. Felisa who were treated at the CLMMRH, while Villanueva’s husband, Roberto, and six other passengers of the tricycle were not hurt in the accident.*APN

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Bacolod cops arrest
3 more sex workers

Three more suspected commercial sex workers were rounded up by Station 1 policemen at the Bacolod City downtown area at about 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Chief Insp. Adonis Rosales, Station 1 commander, said the women, aged 23 and 29, whose names are being withheld by the DAILY STAR, are from Brgy. 16, 21, and Banago in Bacolod City.

Rosales said Police officers 3 Rene Labating and Police Officer 2 Glenn Montano were conducting police patrol operation when they saw the CSWs and apprehended them.

Meanwhile, the 12 CSWs arrested Tuesday at the Bacolod public plaza and at the junction of Araneta and Gatuslao streets have already been released after counseling.

Rosales said the women were not brought to the Bacolod City Health Office but they were told to have themselves examined for sexually transmitted diseases.

Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, Bacolod City Police Office director, said they are intensifying their campaign against commercial sex workers, pimps and call boys, especially because the MassKara Festival is nearing.*RQB

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