IN BACOLOD, KABANKALAN
7 nabbed for shabu;
marijuana uprooted

The police arrested seven more persons for allegedly sniffing shabu in Bacolod City yesterday, the Philippine National Police said.

Memar Diopeta, 38, of Purok Sigay, Brgy. 2 and Reynaldo Pilino, 36, of Grand Estancia Subdivision, Brgy. Mandalagan, both in Bacolod City, were arrested by Bacolod City Police Office Drug Enforcement Unit operatives in a stake-out operation in Purok Sigay at about 10:45 a.m. yesterday, police records showed.

Rafael Benedicto Reteta, 23, of Purok Kasanagan, Brgy. Sum-ag; Ramil Matinong, 34, of Phase 3, Brgy. Handumanan; Dominador, 37, and Bernard, 22, both surnamed dela Cruz, of Purok Kasagingan, Brgy. Banago, also in Bacolod City, were also arrested by the BCPO-DEU officers yesterday.

The operatives led by SPO4 Ernesto Gonzales also nabbed Rodrigo Libre, 35, of Brgy. Bagong Silang, Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental during the raid, police reports said. Recovered from the suspects were nine aluminum foils containing visible traces of suspected shabu and four disposable lighters, the police said.

The seven have been submitted for drug tests at the BCPO crime laboratory yesterday, and may face charges for violations of Section 11, 12 and, 15 of Article 2 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, the PNP also said.

Meanwhile, policemen yesterday discovered a small area planted with marijuana at Villa Remedios Subdivision in Brgy. 1 Poblacion, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

Chief Inspector Calixto Mabugat, newly-designated Kabankalan police chief, however, said majority of the fully-grown marijuana plants were already harvested by its cultivators, when they inspected the area yesterday.

Three fully-grown marijuana plants, estimated at six feet tall each, were uprooted by a team of Kabankalan policemen.

Mabugat said there were signs that marijuana plants had already been harvested by its cultivators who remained unidentified as of this time. Police investigations show that the marijuana were planted in between with ipil-ipil trees, and surrounded with cogon grass, to avoid detection.

In previous years, Mabugat and members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also uprooted marijuana plants in a remote sitio of Brgy. Tampalon in Kabankalan.

Mabugat said their monitoring continues on the reported existence of marijuana planted in some areas of the city.

Police investigations showed that drug dependents are now using marijuana due to scarcity in the supply of shabu.*PP/GPB

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Cops vow to foil robberies

The Philippine National Police said yesterday that it will look into the case of business establishments operating 24 hours a day, which have been victimized by robbers during late night and early morning.

Bacolod City Police Office director Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar said they will focus attention on the security of gasoline stations, internet cafes, and burger stands in the city that have been the recent target of still unidentified thieves.

At about 5 a.m. yesterday unidentified robbers broke into a Caltex gasoline station at Corner Rizal-Lacson Streets in Bacolod and stole P7,700 worth of petroleum products and equipment, police records showed.

Customers of an internet café at Rodriguez Street, also in the city, were robbed at gunpoint by three unidentified persons early Wednesday, police reports said. Quebrar said that the suspects in the recent robberies are teenagers who are "tripping-tripping" (on dares) and that are not organized. The police vowed they will arrest the suspects just what they did with the group that targeted gasoline stations before.*PP

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Cadiz PNP tops evaluation

The Cadiz police again topped the performance evaluation rating, among 31 city and municipal police stations in Negros Occidental, in the second quarter of 2007.

In the municipal categrory, the Manapla police dislodged consistent winner Valladolid police station in the same performance rating, police records show . Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is now probing Chief Inspector Jefferson Descallar, Cadiz police chief, for the alleged delay in the filing of drug cases, which is punishable under Section 92 of RA 9165, known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002.

However, the performance rating of the Cadiz police soared high in the two successive quarters of 2007 after Descallar took over the Cadiz police command late last year, police records also showed.

The police stations of Silay and San Carlos, ranked second and third respectively, in the city category. On the other hand, the E.B. Magalona and Binalbagan police stations shared the second spot, while the Valladolid police ranked third in the municipal category.

The 31 police stations and four provincial mobile groups under the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office are being rated every quarter of the year on community relations, operation and intelligence work, as well as the management of manpower and logistics.*GPB

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