5 illegal drug dealers nabbed in Bulacan

MANILA, Philippines – Authorities said five illegal drug dealers were arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) after a raid in Bulacan Friday.

PDEA Director General Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. said that the suspects, identified as Rizza Jacinto, Rodolfo Tinea, Rowena Jacinto, Dabio Bondoc, and Fernando Fernando, were arrested in a compound in Barangay (village) Banga, Plaridel at around 5 a.m., by virtue of four separate search warrants.

Gutierrez said that sachets and bulks of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, or “shabu” were recovered from the four establishments operated by the suspects.

About 50 grams of shabu were recovered from Rizza Jacinto’s house, along with one firearm and a National Bureau of Investigation badge allegedly owned by his live-in partner, Tinea. She has been tagged as the “shabu queen” in the area, Gutierrez said.

Several sachets of shabu were also confiscated from her aunt, Rowena, who lives just a meter away from her Rizza.

And from the Bondoc and Fernando, another batch of shabu sachets and drug paraphernalia were separately seized from the respective residences.

Inventory to determine the exact volume of drug evidence seized is still ongoing, Gutierrez said.

He said that illegal drug transaction in this compound “is really at its peak.”

“You need not ask where you can buy. Bystanders would even offer you merchandize,” he added.

But the more alarming thing is, he said, was that minors were being exploited as runners.

Gutierrez said that this successful operation was a result of a series of intensive intelligence and surveillance operations conducted by elements of PDEA Regional Office 3 under Director Roybel Sanchez.

Meanwhile, four separate anti-drug operations conducted by PDEA agents in Surigao del Norte Urdaneta, Pangasinan, and Iligan City resulted in the arrest of six suspected drug dealers: Ramiro Espelita; Roelh Que; Michael Arana, alias Baki; Rebecca Amper; Jayson Calle; and Jubilee Tampos.