‘Shabu,’ guns seized from school exec’s Cotabato house

KIDAPAWAN CITY—Government antinarcotics agents on Monday seized P500,000 worth of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth) and high-powered guns from the house of an official of a state-run college at Arakan town in North Cotabato province.

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), armed with a search warrant, said the items were found in the staff house occupied by Dr. Samson Molao, president of Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology (CFCST).

Molao was not in the house during the 3 a.m. raid but five men, who served as his staff, were held for questioning, said Valente Cariño, PDEA Central Mindanao regional director.

13 firearms recovered

Cariño said agents recovered 13 firearms, among these AK-47, M-14 and M-16 Armalite rifles, from the house.

“We came here all the way from Manila because there is very strong information about the [alleged] involvement of the school president in the illegal drug trade,” said Levi Ortiz, leader of the PDEA team.

In 2014, CFCST vice president Delfin Moreno, who had criticized Molao, was murdered.

Students, in 2016, demanded Molao’s resignation over alleged anomalies.

CFCST administrator Cedric Mantawil and Harris Sinolinding, a faculty member who was among those pushing for Molao’s ouster, survived separate ambushes in 2017 and 2016, respectively. —EDWIN FERNANDEZ