Retired cop ‘sorry’ about drugs
“MANGAYO lang ko’g pasaylo (I’m asking for forgiveness).”
Allan Teo Kintanar, a retired policeman, directed his words at his wife and five children, whom he said didn’t know he was a drug user until his arrest in Argao town last Tuesday.
The 49-year-old retiree was presented to the media wearing handcuffs, jeans, a t-shirt and slippers.
With resentment on his face, Kintanar said he was playing mahjong in a friend’s house when police arrived and arrested him.
“Gi-pick up ra ko (I was just picked up),” Kintanar said, denying that a buy-bust took place.
He said only 10 shabu packs belonged to him, for personal consumption, not 32 police said they recovered.
“Daghan ra kaayo to (That’s too many),” Kintanar said.
“Dili ko pusher (I’m not a pusher).”
Charges of possession and selling illegal drugs were filed against Kintanar before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office yesterday.
Kintanar admitted he started using drugs in 1995 when he was still a police officer.
“Tilaw-tilaw lang (I just tasted some),” he said, then began using it on and off with friends.
During “surprise” drug tests, he would show negative results.
Kintanar said he worried about his family, because his wife, a food stall vendor in the Argao municipal hall, didn’t know of his vice.
Two of their sons are police officers, including a stepdaughter assigned in Argao.
Kintanar said his stepdaughter was shocked to see him arrested when he was brought to the Argao police station last Tuesday.
Kintanar retired three years ago with the rank of police officer 3. He served in the Oslob police station, south Cebu.
Former colleagues remember him as a straight cop.
“Buotan na siya nga police (He was a well-behaved policeman),” said Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Argao police chief.
“He was a good policeman,” said Senior Insp. Edward Villarin, Oslob town police chief, his classmate during their police recruitment of the Philippine Constabulary in 1987.
But Argao police said Kintanar had been selling drugs for about three months before his arrest.
Kintanar was a policeman for 22 years before he took early retirement. He said he needed the retirement fund to send his children to college.
He had hoped to receive the lump sum within a year.
“I was discouraged because it’s been three years and I haven’t received any lump sum yet,” Kintanar said in Cebuano.
Police said Kintanar resisted arrest after a buy-bust operation and tried to escape but was eventually cornered.
“Even if you are a policeman, no one is above the law,” said Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Cebu provincial police chief.
He said Kintanar was the subject of a drug raid in Badian town in 1996 but he wasn’t arrested because no illegal drugs were recovered from him.
“There were 10 targets. We suspected that he was already involved in illegal drug activities at the time,” Comendador said.
Comendador said Argao police will be formally commended for arresting the retiree./WITH A REPORT BY CORRESPONDENT GABRIEL C. BONJOC
