An employee of the Virac municipal government and a San Miguel tricycle driver were arrested by police operatives in separate buy-bust operations last week.
First to fall was Robert Marquez Balidoy, also known as “Bert,” 44, a native of Buyo, Virac now residing in Purok 4, Solong, San Miguel, was collared after selling the illegal drug shabu to an undercover police officer posing as a buyer at 2:49 PM of May 15, 2024 at Purok 3 in barangay Boton.
The report said joint elements of the San Miguel police and the Catanduanes Provincial Intelligence Unit conducted the operation against Balidoy, who was identified as a regional target and high-value individual in the local illegal drugs trade.
He will be charged for violation of Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, after he sold a small sachet of shabu to the poseur-buyer and three more sachets containing white crystalline substance were found in his possession.
Among the non-drug items confiscated from Balidoy as evidence were a P500 bill, a cellphone, cigarette lighter, an ice pick, and the tricycle he was using at the time of the arrest.
The inventory was conducted at the place of incident and in the presence of the suspect and by the mandatory witnesses.
It may be recalled that among the eight municipalities already declared as “drug-cleared” by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA), San Miguel was the first to gain the distinction in 2019.
It has since been joined by seven other towns: Baras, Bagamanoc, Bato, Panganiban, Pandan, San Andres, and Viga.
According to PDEA, Catanduanes has already attained 98.09% in terms of drug-cleared barangays, as 309 of the 315 villages have been granted the distinction. This means that for every 10 barangay in the province, only one village is infested with drug-related activities.
Of the other three towns, Caramoran and Gigmoto have only to hurdle the evaluation of the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing (ROC-BDC), composed of representatives from PNP, DILG, DOH, and PDEA.
On the other hand, the six barangays in Virac which are still drug-affected are Salvacion, Sta. Elena, Concepcion, Cavinitan, Palnab del Norte, and San Isidro Village.
In Cavinitan last May 17, joint elements of the Virac police station, the Provincial Intelligence Unit and the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit collared Richard Taraya Valeza, 54, a resident of Francia, after selling shabu to a poseur-buyer inside a room at a lodging establishment at 11:43 PM.
Seized from him was the small plastic sachet containing suspected shabu that he sold as well as the genuine P500 bill and three bogus P500 bills used as buy-bust money.
He will be charged with violation of Section 5 of RA 9165 for the sale of dangerous drugs.