P2-M worth of shabu seized from Batangas ‘drug pusher’

Police Regional Office Region 4A director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar presents to the media alleged Makati City drug pusher Marcial Orbigoso, after being arrested by the Regional Special Operations Unit in an operation in Lipa City. Photo by PRO-4A Public Information Office

SAN PEDRO CITY – Police arrested an alleged drug pusher and recovered from him some P2 million worth of suspected shabu in Lipa City, Batangas early Monday.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (CALABARZON) police identified the suspect as Marcial Orbigoso. He was arrested in a police operation around 5 a.m. in Barangay (village) Pangao.

In a phone interview, Eleazar said police armed with a search warrant against Orbigoso combed through his house looking for illegal firearms. But during the search, police also found “in plain view” 14 plastic bags that allegedly contained a total of 300 grams of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth).

“(Orbigoso) reportedly had been arrested before in Makati (City) also for illegal drugs. He was operating in Makati or we can say in the southern (parts of Metro) Manila,” Eleazar said.

Also recovered from the suspect were a .45 caliber gun and bullets, police said.

Orbigoso, also known as Tan-Tan, is one of the “big three” drug suppliers in Guadalupe Viejo in Makati City and was used by scalawag policemen in their illegal drug activities, according to authorities.

He was previously detained at Makati City Jail from 2003 to 2009 for frustrated homicide and was detained again from 2013 to 2015 at the Southern Police District detention cell for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Police also said that when he was released in 2015, Orbigoso had admitted that he was used by some rogue police officers in their illicit activities.   /kga