ILOILO City – A woman the police arrested in Pavia, Iloilo for allegedly selling a prohibited substance vehemently denied that she was involved in the drug trade.
Rosie Panganiban, 48, said she was walking in Barangay Balabag where she also lived at around 1 p.m. on Monday when people she would later find out to be police operatives invited her for a chat.
“Galakat ko sa dalan. Gin-invite lang ko nila, gusto ako nila istoryahon, tapos gin-aresto lang ako nila,” Panganiban said.
But officers from the Pavia police station told a different story.
Police said Panganiban sold to an undercover office a sachet of suspected shabu for P500. Three more plastic packs of the same substance were seized from her.
“Indi na akon ang mga nakuha nila sa akon kay wala ako ya gabaligya,” Panganiban insisted while admitting that she was a former user who surrendered to the police as part of Oplan Tokhang last year.
Further recovered from the suspect were a membership ledger booklet labeled “CARD Lending,” a Samsung mobile phone, P200 cash, and the P500 buy-bust money.
Chief Inspector Fernand Limbungan, Pavia police chief, said they have been surveilling Panganiban “for a long time.”
Panganiban was detained at the Pavia police station. She faces charges for violation of sections 5 (sale) and 11 (possession) of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
