With amounts of drugs seized: Cebu still a hotspot

CEBU, Philippines —  Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday echoed a previous statement of President Rodrigo Duterte categorizing Cebu as a hotspot for illegal drugs because of the amount of drugs confiscated during police operations here.

Albayalde said the police still have a lot of work to do.

“Hindi pa rin naman  din na-clear ang Cebu… marami pa din namang nakukuha sa province of Cebu and, I think, hindi pa natin totally ma-declare drug-free ang Cebu with all recoveries. Siguro, sa tingin ko, kailangan natin magtrabaho,” he told the Cebu press yesterday.

The police chief was in Cebu as a guest of honor in a gun show at a mall here. He later attended his first command visit at Camp Sergio Osmeña, the headquarters of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas.

Albayalde said even places that have been declared drug free will be monitored continuously.

“It doesn’t mean na kapag nag-declare na drug-free ang isang province, bibitawan na natin yan. There will be monitoring…it doesn’t necessarily mean na forever na yan drug-free,” he said.

“If there will be signs na may drugs o merong makuhang intelligence information na meron na namang nagtutulak o gumagamit sa area, mawawala ang drug-free. Ang drug- free yung time pinirmahan (declaration). Hindi mean na forever na drug-free,” he said.

Regular police operations, indeed, yield large amounts of shabu, still, and many of those arrested have been labeled high-value targets.

Just the other night, authorities confiscated shabu worth at least P1,000,000 in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

The suspect, Abella Zosa, 28, could reportedly dispose of a kilo of shabu every week.

Police Chief Insp. Maria Theresa Macatangay, the chief of the Abellana Police Station, said they were able to transact shabu worth almost P300,000 on the first try alone.

Zosa reportedly offered the police poseur-buyer his other stocks, which led operatives to his residence. There, they found eight large packs of shabu worth P826,000.

Also last Thursday, police in Lapu-Lapu City confiscated shabu worth P501,736 from three suspects in an operation in Barangay Gun-ob and Pajac.

A few days ago, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) confiscated shabu worth almost P10,000,000 during an operation in Barangay Carreta.

Meanwhile, Albayalde said efforts are ongoing to track down the “remaining forces” of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz and self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones.

“We will not relent on our campaign against criminalities, we will not stop until the last drug pusher, supplier, and drug trader will put to jail or placed behind bars, or probably yung drug dependent, will be rehabilitated,” he said.

He also challenged Kerwin Espinosa, businessman Peter Lim, and Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot who ended up on the watchlist of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Unang una, sagutin nila ang allegations on the proper forum. They can be adjudicated, deliberated on, kung talagang gusto nila magpa-adjudicate… but substantial evidence are gathered against them then wala tayong magagawa kasi there is evidence against them,” he said. — with Christell Fatima M. Tudtud/JMO (FREEMAN)