Ex-village councilwoman of Cotabato City nabbed for drug trafficking

COTABATO CITY — A former village councilwoman in North Cotabato was arrested during an anti-drug operation in Barangay Poblacion 1 here on Thursday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Friday.

Juvenal Azurin, PDEA regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said anti-narcotics agents, backed by Cotabato City police personnel and city anti-drug abuse council, served the search warrant in the house of Josephine Mangidalat and her husband Elmer, a former village chief of Pikit, North Cotabato.

However, only the former village councilwoman of Barangay Poblacion 7, Cotabato City was present and arrested. Her husband was out of the house during the operation.

“The couple is one of our high-value targets and included in the PDEA watch list of big-time drug personalities,” Azurin said, adding that the couple supplied illegal drugs in Pikit and nearby towns in Maguindanao.

Seized during the search were two huge sachets of suspected shabu worth about P142,800 and three mobile phones.

Charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared.

Mangidalat is now under the custody of PDEA ARMM Detention Facility in PC Hill, Cotabato City.