Greco nabbed in Nueva Ecija

The son of the late Cebu Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez was arrested by police by  virtue of a bench warrant issued by a Cebu City court.
Leodegreco “Greco” Sanchez was arrested in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija last Wednesday morning, said Chief Insp. George Ylanan, former chief of the Regional Special Operation Group (RSOG) of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7). He is now assigned at the National Capital Regional Police Office.
RSOG operatives arrested Greco and Edward Teves last April after they were caught allegedly using and possessing illegal drugs at a house in barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Charges were filed against Greco but he was able to post bail.
Ylanan said that while out on bail, Greco’s mother Leonarda filed a petition to commit him to a drug rehabilitation center.
Greco allegedly went in hiding after learning about the petition and failed to attend court hearings on his drug case. Greco’s failure to attend the hearings prompted the court to issue a bench warrant against him, Ylanan said in a phone interview.
Since the warrant was issued in Cebu City, Ylanan said Sanchez may be brought here.
But instead of bringing him in Cebu, Greco’s sister, Provincial Board (PB) member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero, is requesting the Regional Trial Court (RTC) to commit his younger brother to a drug rehabilitation center in Luzon.
Gigi said moving Greco directly to the Bicutan Drug Rehabilitation Center in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City will lessen the probability that her brother would escape considering the “risks of bringing him back and forth from Nueva Ecija to Cebu City and Bicutan.”
“Instead of sending him back to Cebu, just bring him directly to the Bicutan Rehab Center because there is already an order administering him to a rehab center” she told reporters yesterday.
The urgent motion was filed by Dr. David Baron, chief of the Department of Health (DOH) office in Argao and Greco’s former drug rehabilitation physician, before Regional Trial Court Branch 13 yesterday.
The motion stated that “there is a high risk that Greco might attempt to escape during his travel to Cebu City and has in fact attempted to evade the processes of the court when he fled to Nueva Ecija.”
According to the motion, RTC Branch 8 earlier subjected Greco to a compulsory commitment for drug rehabilitation at the New Horizons Treatment and Rehabilitation in the town of Argao following a request from the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB).
“So we are asking the court with the intervention of Dr. Baron, the head of DOH Argao, because we only have one rehab center here,” said Gigi.
“Dr. Baron handled the rehabilitation of my brother in the past but will not accept him anymore. He was placed into rehab 18 times,” she added.
She said she is planning to go to Manila to follow up on Greco’s rehabilitation center once the court releases its decision on the motion.
‘Still a brother’
After leaning about Greco’s arrest, Gigi said she immediately called up the chief of the San Jose Police Station and asked about the condition of his brother.
Gigi said she requested the police chief to provide Greco with food and other basic necessities until the court arrives with a decision on their motion.
“Bisag unsaon na, he is still my brother. Even after all the past incidents including the time that he blackmailed me,” she said.
Greco, she said, has underwent rehabilitation 18 times in the past to treat his excessive drug abuse which started when he was still a teenager.
She said  they continue to support two of her brother’s three children who are currently in Cebu while the other one is under the custody of Greco’s second partner in Nueva Ecija.
Drug prevention
Basing from her brother’s experiences, Gigi said she will urge the province through the PB to craft legislation and provide funding for the  preventive measures for Cebu’s bout against illegal drugs.
She said there is only one single public drug rehabilitation center in the province while others are run by private medical practitioners./CorrespondentS Peter L. Romanillos AND CHITO O. ARAGON