Metro Briefs: Man arrested in Pasig for kidnap try on 5-year-old girl

Man arrested in Pasig for kidnap try on 5-year-old girl

A man who allegedly tried to abduct a 5-year-old girl was arrested in Pasig City on Thursday morning. Chief Supt. Reynaldo Biay, Eastern Police District director, said Romualdo Abalajon Jr., 49, of Makati City, tried to forcibly take the girl from the street. Pasig City Police chief Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra Jr., said witness Rose Marie Vecino was standing outside her house at Villa Tupaz in Brgy. San Joaquin when she noticed Abalajon roaming their street around 9 a.m. Abalajon suddenly grabbed the arm of the girl and tried to carry the child. Vecino then came to the rescue of the victim, took the child away from the suspect, and called for police assistance. The suspect yielded a sachet of “shabu.”—JODEE A. AGONCILLO

P175K worth of ‘shabu’ seized in QC

Two antidrug operations by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) overnight yielded around P175,000 worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) from six suspects, reportedly including a 15-year-old girl. Chief Insp. Ferdinand Mendoza, chief of the QCPD’s drug enforcement unit, said the suspects were in the drug watchlist. Police operatives conducted a drug bust inside the house of Juanito Constantino, 54, along PUC Road in Barangay Baesa around 11 p.m. on Thursday. Also arrested were Joemar Dubria, 41; Jerry Bares, 32; and a 15-year-old girl. Seized from them were 10 sachets of suspected shabu weighing around 15 grams valued at P75,000. Two more drug suspects, believed to be Constantino’s suppliers, were collared six hours later in Project 8. Jonkerch Cullera, 27, and Romeo Maldo, 25, were nabbed in a buy-bust operation at the corner of Road 23 and Road 12 Extension in Barangay Bahay Toro around 5 a.m. Thirteen sachets of shabu worth P100,000 were seized from the suspects, Mendoza said.—JHESSET O. ENANO

Drug surrenderer dies inside Pasig detention cell

A 59-year-old former drug surrenderer who was arrested in his home on Wednesday with 69 sachets of “shabu” died a day later inside the Pasig City Police detention cell. Pasig City Police chief Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra Jr. said Antonio Coronel died due to a health problem. Yebra said the family declined to conduct an autopsy examination on the victim. Police said Coronel had difficulty breathing and was already “gasping for air” around 7:35 p.m. He was rushed to the Rizal Medical Center where he died around 8:35 pm, the report said. Yebra said Coronel voluntarily surrendered in 2016 but recently went back to peddling illegal drugs.—JODEE A. AGONCILLO

LTFRB nabs taxi driver for refusal to use meter

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) apprehended on Friday a taxi driver and impounded the taxi for refusing to use the taxi meter. LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada said taxi driver Frederick Cayanan was apprehended at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 1 following a brief chase. Lizada said that while Cayanan’s taxi (ALA 3281) had a franchise to operate, it was still considered “colorum” because of the driver’s refusal to use the meter. Cayanan’s taxi, supposedly owned by a police, gained notoriety after vlogger Haley Dasovich posted on YouTube on Wednesday a video of Cayanan scolding her for insisting on using the taxi meter.—JOVIC YEE