Policewoman, 2 ex-cops nabbed in Sibonga raids

Senior Police Officer 1 Ethel Teves is an active member of the Dalaguete Police Station and has received several awards in her 20 years of service, but her career is in peril after she was caught for keeping unlicensed firearms and explosives.

The officer and her live-in partner, retired SPO1 Marflo Suico, were caught in a Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB)-led raid in Barangay Poblacion, Sibonga, Cebu yesterday morning.

Operatives seized a .45 pistol, .9mm pistol, two KG9 submachine guns, an Ingram pistol, bullets and a hand grenade in their house.

Teves, who joined the police force in 1997, was a recipient of the Philippine National Police’s Medalya ng Papuri (commendation medal) and Medalya ng Kasanayan (efficiency medal).

PIB chief Supt. Joie Yape Jr. said they also arrested Suico’s brother, Heracleo, and ex-PO2 Niel Cayubit.

They seized at least seven firearms, bullets and 27 grams of suspected shabu worth P486,000 from the suspects, who reportedly have links to jailed drug lord Steve Go.

The house of Ethel’s nephew, Bennett Teves, was also raided, but he was not caught.

He is reportedly the half-brother of Go, an inmate in the Talisay City Jail.

Heracleo, for his part, is allegedly a friend of Joseph Reville, who was killed in a shootout with the PIB operatives in Barangay Putat, Tuburan, Cebu last Saturday morning.

He is also reportedly a friend of a suspected gambling lord who is in hiding.

Heracleo, however, denied he is into illegal activities. He said Reville visited his house before to buy roosters.

A .38 revolver with bullets, six packs of suspected shabu, illegal gambling paraphernalia, and proceeds from illegal activities were seized from Heracleo.

As for Cayubit, police confiscated from him a .45 pistol and a pack of suspected shabu.

Cayubit was dismissed from service after he failed to report to the Cebu Provincial Police Office’s Special Weapons and Tactics unit in 2004.

Asked about the firearms in their house, Teves said these were owned by her father and two brothers, who are all retired police officers.

The submachine guns were reportedly owned by Go.

Teves allegedly visited Go often, but she denied it.

The PIB-led raid was authorized through the four search warrants issued by Danao City Regional Trial Court Branch 25 Judge Jerry Dicdican.