City Hall employee nabbed for illegal drugs

A Baguio City Hall employee was arrested by anti-narcotics agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Cordillera and local police in a sting operation at Upper General Luna, Laubach Road.

Randolph Ryan Marrero Estigoy, 39 – years – old, a resident of Happy Glenn Loop, Salud Mitra, and is a ticket checker of the Baguio City Treasury Office was cuffed for selling a heat-sealed

sachet containing suspected shabu worth P10,000 to an undercover agent.

Also confiscated from Estigoy is the buy-bust money used during the transaction.

The suspect is temporarily detained at the PDEA-CAR jail facility and will be charged before the proper authorities for violating Section 5 (Sale of Dangerous Drugs) of Republic Act Number 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

PDEA Cordillera Information Office Atty. Joseph Calulut said the agency have started to monitor Estigoy since the third quarter of last year from intelligence sources following sketchy reports of his involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan meanwhile expressed dismay in the arrest of Estigoy for his involvement in the illegal drug trade.

"It is very unfortunate that one of our employees have been apprehended in a buybust operation. Due process has to be done and if there is substantial evidence, much as we do not like to do it, he will have to be dismissed from his employment. And the most serious as far as he is concern is to defend himself in court against the case which will be filed against him," Domogan explained.

Domogan added the arrest of Estigoy serves as a stern warning to public officials and employees to veer away from illegal drug activities. Jonathan Llanes