Gov’t employee caught selling shabu; claims he did it to support kid’s education

MANILA, Philippines – A government employee who sold drugs in Marikina City to support his child’s college education was nabbed by authorities Saturday night in a drug bust operation.

Marcelo Casica, who claimed to be a personal assistant of a Land Bank of the Philippines official, was arrested at around 9:30 p.m. after he was caught selling for P300 a sachet believed to contain methamphetamine hydrochloride, or “shabu,” to an undercover policeman.

When frisked inside his home at the 21st Street, Balubad in Barangay (village) Nangka, the 47-year-old suspect yielded 12 more sachets with the same suspected illegal substance.

He told members of the Marikina Police’s Station Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group, led by Insp. Jerry Flores, that he has been employed at the government bank for five years now as a staff of a member of the bank’s board of directors.

SPO1 Dionise Salcedo said the suspect claimed that he got involved in the illegal drug trade because he had to augment his income to support his child’s college education after his wife died a decade ago. He added that the suspect has also been supporting the three elementary-aged children he has with his live-in partner.

Salcedo said that the suspect resorted to selling drugs because he was allegedly enticed by his neighbors who were also in on the illegal trade. The suspect, however, didn’t give up the names of his neighbors who peddled drugs.

In their day-long surveillance of Casica’s operation, Salcedo said that they noticed that the suspect only sold at night after he has supposedly come home from his day job at LandBank. He added that the suspect didn’t allow his buyers to go inside his three-story house and would do the transaction outside.

When arrested, Casica wasn’t able to produce his LandBank ID. Instead, he presented an expired ID from a health maintenance organization bearing his name and LandBank’s name. The ID was valid only from June 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2014.

The suspect is currently detained at the Marikina Police station facing charges of selling and possessing illegal drugs.