Teacher, 5 students fall in drug bust

Teacher Pablito Miro, 31, does more than just teaching senior high school students of Madridejos town on the island of Bantayan in northern Cebu.

He also allegedly sells shabu to his students, and even asks them to deliver drugs to buyers.

On Wednesday night, Miro’s extra-curricular activities ended after he, along with five students, fell into the hands of the authorities during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Pili.

Inspector Joseph Mangle, police chief of Madridejos, told The FREEMAN that they hatched the operation against Miro after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen last December about Miro’s alleged illegal transactions.

Miro teaches at a private school in Barangay Poblacion, Madridejos town.

Based on community reports, he allegedly sold drugs to his students, although only in small quantities, and even involved some of them in the business.

Subsequent monitoring validated such reports, prompting police to launch the buy-bust operation on Wednesday.

Police Officer 3 Kent Formentera said Miro detected he was transacting with a poseur-buyer during the operation, so he ran towards a small shanty in hopes of evading the police.

There, operatives cornered Miro and discovered five teenagers, four of them still wearing their school uniforms, allegedly having a drug session.

“Naay mga paraphernalia. Ang foil naay residue sa shabu (We found drug paraphernalia. There were drug residues on the foil),” Formentera said.

Police identified the five young men as Stephen Diongson, 18, a resident of Barangay Pili; Jelson Villaceran Medalle, 18, of Barangay Malbago; Michael Gidayawan, 18, of Barangay Poblacion; Czar Brian Lim, 18, and Salvador Atim, 18, both from Barangay Bunakan. Except for Lim who is in Grade 11, all are Grade 12 students.

Miro, who yielded four small sachets of suspected shabu, will face charges for illegal possession and selling of dangerous drugs.

The students, for their part, will be charged for illegal possession of drug paraphernalia after yielding tin foils and lighters.

While the students will undergo drug tests and the evidence taken from them subjected to further examination, they will be detained at the police station, along with Miro.

Mangle, meanwhile, said they are still investigating as to the source of Miro's drug supplies.

CPADAO COMMENTS

The Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office welcomed Miro's arrest and reiterated that under Department of Education Order No. 37 and No. 40, schools are directed to promote drug-free workplace and child protection.

“Ang pagsalig sa ginikanan naa unta sa magtutudlo, but sad to know nga this specific teacher is the one who is selling kuyog pa gyud niya og pot session ang iyang mga students,” said CPADAO head Ivy Durano-Meca.

She said rural health units and municipal health officers in the towns and cities must work to prevent youngsters from getting hooked on drugs.

Meca further said drug problem among youth is very alarming because data show that those involved in the use of drugs are mostly young people.

As of 2017, CPADAO has recorded 1,864 minors across the province who have surrendered to the police and confessed to be users of illegal drugs. Of that number, 90 percent are males.

OTHER ARRESTS

In Minglanilla, police arrested a high-value drug target identified as Raymond Gonzales Bathaji during a police operation in Sitio Upper, Barangay Linao on Wednesday afternoon.

Bathaji, who is considered the fifth most wanted person by the town police, had been a subject of many operations in the past but had always managed to elude arrest. Not this time.

During the operation on Wednesday, Bathaji was caught in possession of 18 packs of suspected shabu weighing 10.8 grams with estimated value of P100,000.

According to Police Officer 3 Jose Dumagit, Bathaji can dispose of up to 100 grams of shabu weekly.

In Carcar City, a certain Joel Baclay, 24, a former Tokhang surrenderer, was arrested again in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Dapdap, Barangay Poblacion 3 on Wednesday morning.

In the north, three alleged drug pushers and five alleged drug users were also caught in separate buy-bust operations Wednesday evening in Barangay Pulpogan, Consolacion.

Police identified the street-level pushers as Mark Lahoylahoy, Sherwin Sumanting, and Jomart Gastador. Caught in the act of using drugs were Ceferino Lazaga, Rodrigo Cabahug, Ronaly Ronde, Daniel Osorno, and Eugene Peregrino.

OPLAN POKEMON

In Cebu City, a total of 53 suspects were arrested and five minors were rescued in the continuation of the police's Oplan Pokemon during and after the Sinulog Festival.

Senior Superintendent Julian Entoma, officer-in-charge of the Cebu City Police Office, said they did not stop hunting down individuals linked in illegal activities despite their busy schedule last week.

Evidence recovered included a total of 7.16 grams of shabu valued at P84,488, drug paraphernalia, a .38 caliber with two live ammunition, a .45 caliber with silencer and eight live ammunition, cash worth P1,821, seven moli-moli gambling machines, and two karera machines.

Now that Sinulog is over, Entoma said his team can focus back on rounding up criminals.

He said the five minors, who were picked up after they were caught in drug sessions, were already turned over to social workers.