Makati police nab 50 for health protocol violations

MANILA, Philippines — Makati City police officers were supposed to arrest a man for selling party drugs in the glitzy Poblacion district but eventually rounded up at least 50 clubgoers for violating health measures. Police arrested Emanuel Mercado, alias “Mengo,” after he sold a bag of kush (high-grade marijuana) for P1,700 during a buy-bust operation at 12:40 a.m. on Friday at Club SixtyNine in P. Burgos Street. Also recovered from Mercado were 31 packs of kush worth P48,000, and three sachets each containing an ecstasy pill valued at P51,000. Police also fined 50 partygoers, including foreigners inside the club, for violating health measures while the city is still under general community quarantine. Each of them paid P2,000—P1,000 for violating the curfew ordinance and P1,000 for violating the mandatory physical distancing protocol. —Dexter Cabalza