914 Quezon City inmates undergo drug tests

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 914 inmates of the Quezon City jail underwent random drug testing yesterday.

The inmates submitted their urine samples for examination by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

They comprised about 20 percent of the 4,572 inmates being held for illegal drugs and other crimes.

City jail warden Superintendent Ermelito Moral and 193 other officers and personnel also underwent drug tests.

Moral said the move aims to declare the city jail as a drug-free detention facility.

He said they have not recovered drugs during the three “Oplan Greyhound” operations conducted in the past three months.

Instead of narcotics, Moral said authorities confiscated only bladed weapons and cigarettes.

More drug arrests

Meanwhile, in Quezon City, 22 drug suspects were apprehended in separate anti-narcotics operations in the past two days.

Chief Superintendent Joselito Esquivel Jr., director of the Quezon City Police District, said the suspects were nabbed in Barangays Talipapa, Holy Spirit and Pansol.

In eastern Metro Manila, 12 persons were arrested by police in drug stings.

Arwin Jayson Obana, 37; brothers Renante, 40, and Reynaldo Bejoc, 29; Jerwon Luarca, 23; Franco Aquino, 42; Dennis Mayrong, 30, and Mark Jerome Neo, 29, were collared along Paraiso street in Barangay Parang, Marikina City.

The suspects allegedly yielded P8,000 worth of shabu, drug paraphernalia and P500 in marked money.

Another drug suspect, Danric Ponce, 22, was arrested after he allegedly robbed a 16-year-old student of her cell phone at the corner of Marcos Highway and Major Dizon Avenue in Barangay IVC.

Police said they recovered two sachets of shabu, a mobile phone worth P12,000, a fan knife and ammunition for an M203 grenade launcher.

In Pasig City, Pedro Monroy, 55, his elder brother, Ramon, 60, and Rodolfo Joloan, 42, were nabbed in Barangay Kalawaan.

In Mandaluyong City, an 18-year-old man was apprehended for alleged possession of shabu in Barangay Highway Hills.