The head of the Talisay City General Services Office, who was apprehended by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives Friday night for alleged possession of shabu, yesterday claimed he was framed and that he has witnesses to prove it.

Talisay GSO head Archibald Tuvilla and Sannil Arcenas were apprehended Friday night for possession of suspected shabu, Inspector Joemarie Occeño, Negros PDEA chief, said.

The PDEA had applied for a search warrant on Tuvilla's vehicle because it was often seen in Barangay 2 where drugs are purchased, Occeño said.

On Friday night Tuvilla's vehicle was again seen in Barangay 2 and they followed it to the Nature's Village area where he and his companion were nabbed with four elongated sachets of suspected shabu, Occeño added.

Tuvilla, however, claimed Occeño framed him when he failed to produce P200,000 that the PDEA official was asking for, a charge that the latter denied.

Tuvilla said it was because he was framed by Occeño that he refused to have a drug test conducted on him on Saturday. He said he feared that its results would be manipulated by the PDEA, too.

Occeño said Tuvilla is detained at the Talisay police jail and if he allowed a drug test there were witnesses who could have made sure that the results would not be manipulated. If Tuvilla had not used drugs, what was he afraid of? Occeño asked.

Tuvilla said that at about 9 p.m. of Friday he was playing at a slot machine at the Casino Arcade next to L'Fisher Hotel, when somebody approached him and asked him if the green Nissan Sentra parked outside was his.

He said when he went down, he saw Occeño who asked to talk to him in his vehicle and while still in the L 'Sea area, he even waved at an acquaintance, whose name he withheld.

Tuvilla said he was told to get into the back seat of his car while Occeño got into the front passenger seat, and a PDEA agent drove them to the Golden Table area at Aguinaldo Street.

"When we got there Occeño told me to step out of the car and he informed me that he had a warrant to search my vehicle because he was positive that there was shabu in it," Tuvilla said.

I said that is not true, Tuvilla said, adding that another acquaintance who knows him and Occeño passed by and saw them talking.

Tuvilla also said that Occeño got a phone call while they were talking and told him that a Talisay opposition politician offered him P100,000 to press charges against him.

He asked if I could pay P200,000 and I told him I could not afford that amount, Tuvilla said.

"Occeño and I got back in the green Nisssan Sentra and he said if I could not give the P200,000 I could give him a down payment of P50,000 that night, with the remaining balance to be given by 10 a.m. Saturday," he said.

Occeño allowed him to call his mother to ask for the P50,000, Tuvilla further said.

"When I was not able to produce the P50,000 Occeño ordered the driver to proceed to Talisay and we parked at the open space at the Active subdivision and he told me that Arcenas was in the van that had been following the car," Tuvilla added.

Occeño transferred Arcenas to my car and ordered the driver to proceed to the Nature's Village area where our supposed arrest was conducted, Tuvilla added.

He also stressed that another witness saw his car and the L-300 van parked in the Active subdivision area that night.

Tuvilla said he is a father of five and has worked for the government for 20 years with an unblemished record.

Occeño said the claim of Tuvilla that he was framed is a lie, because he did not pick him up from the Casino Arcade. "We stopped his car and arrested him in front of the Nature's Village," he said.

"If we picked him up where he said he we did, he should have resisted and if we wanted money, how come we did not take the money he won from the Casino?" Occeño asked.

"It was Tuvilla who offered to give us P200,000 so that we would not arrest him," Occeño said.

"Tuvilla knows a lot of influential people, so it is easy for him to produce witnesses," Occeño said.

"We will file charges against him for transportation of dangerous drugs and paraphernalia as soon ad the lab results come back on the suspected shabu we seized from his vehicle," Occeño said.

MAYOR REACTS

Talisay Mayor Eric Saratan said he was surprised that Tuvilla was arrested as he had been actively participating in preparations for various city activities before his arrest.

He said he cannot make a judgment on Tuvilla or on his allegations against the PDEA, and that due process must be allowed to take its course.

At the same time, he stressed that he will not tolerate the use of drugs by Talisay government employees and, to show that he is serious, random drug tests will be conducted to weed out those using prohibited substances.

Saratan said government employees should also not be gambling in the Casino, which is a violation of the civil service code of ethics.*CPG

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