By RUBY P. SILUBRICO
DUMANGAS, Iloilo — A barangay captain and three others fell into a dragnet set up by personnel of Dumangas police station and Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) in Brgy. Calao here yesterday.
Arrested were Calao Barangay Captain Teopisto Gomez, 56; Judy Demafilez, 35, and Michael Libo, 30, both of Brgy. Ilaya; and Mark Jason Diamante, 22, of Brgy. Poblacion.
Senior Supt. Cornelio Salinas, IPPO director, said his men staged a buy-bust operation at about 12:30 p.m. in the house of Gomez after a long period of surveillance.
The operating teams were acting in the wake of a tip that the four were selling illegal drugs.
Recovered from Gomez’s house were six sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia, P2,850 cash, an M16 rifle and a caliber .40 pistol.
A “high-value” target, Gomez was the first barangay official arrested for alleged illegal drug trade this year, Salinas said.
“He is considered a high-value target because he is a barangay official who uses his power and position in an illegal activity,” he stressed.
Salinas said they would also investigate why Gomez was in possession of high-powered firearms.
The barangay captain and his fellow suspects were hauled into the lockup cell of Dumangas police station.
Several barangay captains in the province have also been arrested in joint police-Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency buy-bust operations last year.
They include Meliton Buyco IV of Brgy. Poblacion, Anilao; Bram Pimentel of Brgy. Guicanas, Pototan; and Rhodny Villarias of Brgy. Niño, Concepcion.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has expressed disappointment over the involvement of village officials in illegal drugs.
“Punong barangays serve as chairmen of their (Barangay) Anti-Drug Abuse Councils,” Atty. Cedric Jaranilla, counsel for DILG Region 6, said last year.
Barangay officials involved in drug trafficking thus jeopardize the campaign against illegal drugs, Jaranilla stressed.
The barangay as the smallest political unit is where the campaign against illegal drugs starts.
DILG has two directives pertaining to the campaign:
- Memorandum Circular No. 2012-94, which calls for the activation of local anti-drug abuse councils; and
- Memorandum Circular No. 2009-09, which pushes for a “unified action against illegal drugs and other substances.”
DILG can recommend to the Office of the Ombudsman the suspension or barangay officials engaged in drug trafficking, said Jaranilla.
In a related development, a 35-year-old man was arrested in Brgy. Bakhaw, Mandurriao, Iloilo, for possession of illegal drugs.
Jeoffrey Lerona of Brgy. Salvacion, Molo district, was collared by Mandurriao policemen led by Chief Insp. Lea Rose Peña on Thursday evening.
Recovered from him was a big sachet of shabu. He was detained in the Mandurriao police station./PN
