ILOILO City – The former barangay captain of Desamparados, Jaro district was arrested in a buy-bust operation of the police in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia, Iloilo yesterday.
Shabu was recovered from Noemi Jablo, 47, according to Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, chief of the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit.
Jablo was one of the three village chiefs in Iloilo City that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) investigated for suspected links to illegal drugs in 2016. The two others were Barangay Monica Blumentritt’s Keith Espinosa and Barangay Bakhaw’s Remia Prevendido Gregori, sister of slain drug lord Richard Prevendido.
Jablo’s arrest came two weeks after Gregori was shot to death by armed men at her beach resort in Barangay Igcadlum, San Joaquin, Iloilo.
The former barangay captain sold a quarter of a gram of shabu to an undercover police officer for P3,500, said Bermejo.
The sting operation was carried out at around 4:30 p.m.
Ten more grams of shabu valued at P120,000 were seized from Jablo, said Bermejo.
Jablo sought reelection in the May 14 barangay election. She lost.
The suspect was taken to the Pavia police station together with her suspected runner, Alton Guijen, 30.
“Our undercover police officer had been negotiating with her for two weeks. We received reports she was staying in her store in Barangay Ungka II together with her runner. Her store also served as a drug den,” said Bermejo.
Jablo was classified a high-value target of the police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“Legal ang amon pangabuhi. Wala kami ‘ya ga-ilegal,” said Jablo in a previous interview.
It was Councilor Plaridel Nava who called for the SP investigation on Jablo, Espinosa and Gregori. The city council, he said must determine if they “have been remiss in their duties and responsibilities in the fight against illegal drugs.”
The SP cleared Jablo while it found Gregori and Espinosa guilty of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty.
Like Jablo, Espinosa and Gregori denied having anything to do with illegal drugs.
Gregori was killed on June 24, nine months after her brother Richard was killed in a shootout with the police in Barangay Balabago, Jaro on Sept. 1, 2017.
Jablo’s husband, the late Rusty Jablo, was himself a high-value drug target of the police and PDEA. He committed suicide on Nov. 22, 2016 in General Santos City where he fled in the wake of intensified police campaign against illegal drugs in Iloilo City. He was said to be a subgroup leader of Prevendido./PN
