Mambusao mayor denies relation to drug suspect

ROXAS City – Mayor Leodegario Labao of Mambusao, Capiz denied any relation to a drug suspect who claimed to be his grandson.

The 18-year-old Kim Kristian Labao of Barangay Bato-Bato, Mambusao was arrested in this capital city on May 17.

Police caught him and four others in a “pot session” in a room in La Hacienda Grand Hotel on Arnaldo Boulevard.

Kim Kristian told the police he was a grandson of the mayor of Mambusao, who he claimed was a brother of his grandfather.

Labao, who was also from Barangay Bato- Bato, denied knowing Kim Kristian. The mayor said he has not yet met the drug suspect.

Anybody can use “Labao” as their family name, the mayor stressed, adding that his grandchildren were still very young.

Moreover, “the alleged ‘pot session’ and the arrest took place in Roxas City, not in Mambusao,” Labao told this reporter.

Roxas City r esidents Gemma Mae Calinao, 24, and Reynate Alvarez, 37, of Barangay Bago; Renz Vidal, 21, of Barangay 11; and Regienald Prisco, 18, of Barangay Tanque were arrested along with Kim Kristian.

Police seized from them seven sealed plastic packs and three opened plastic packs of suspected shabu, two improvised tooters, two folded aluminum foils, three disposable lighters, a pair of scissors, two cell phones, and a pouch.

Mayor Labao stressed that he was giving his full support to the police’s antidrug campaign.

“Mambusao was the first municipality in the province to be declared ‘drug-cleared,’” he pointed out./