By Jennifer P. Rendon
A former convicted criminal was arrested with around P238,000 worth of shabu in a police anti-narcotics operation in La Paz, Iloilo City over the weekend.
The suspect, Ronel Derojo, 39, of Barangay San Isidro, La Paz, was collared after selling two sachets of suspected shabu for P30,000.
Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) Team 3 and La Paz Police Station arrested Derojo around 3:45 p.m. of Dec 19 by the roadside in Barangay Banuyao.
Lieutenant Glen Soliman, RPDEU team leader, said the P30,000 for two sachets was already a bargain that the suspect offered for the poseur buyer.
“Derojo wanted to immediately dispose the shabu in his possession,” he said.
When frisked, police seized from the suspect five more sachets of suspected shabu.
Initial assessment indicated that the shabu drugs weighed at 35 grams.
While it has a DDB (Dangerous Drugs Board) value of around P238,000, the seized drugs could fetch as much as P400,000 if repacked and resold.
“He might have planned to run off and not pay his supplier. Basi i-double cross nya,” Soliman said.
Both the La Paz Police Station and RPDEU said the suspect had been monitored to be into the illegal drug trade for several months already.
Captain Edfel Balibadlan, La Paz police chief, said that illegal drug pushers who were previously arrested pointed to Derojo as their source.
And it appeared that Derojo had been sourcing his supply from the New Bilibid Prison, Soliman said.
“He could be a minion of the Abantao Drug Group,” he said.
It’s not at all hard for Dorejo to connect with the group, since its leader, Jovern Abantao alias Jovan, is presently detained at NBP.
It was gathered that Derojo was charged for a robbery case in 2013 but was released on July 2016.
He fled following a drug bust at Gen. Hughes, City Proper district.
He was later traced to be staying in La Paz.
Derojo is now detained and will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
Abantao Group
The Abantao drug group has been making a name in the illegal drug business in Iloilo, as persons who were previously arrested and yielded big volumes of drugs were linked to the group.
Before Derojo, the last Abantao associate to be arrested was Mark Kristian Arroyo last Dec 4 in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
Members of the Iloilo City Police Office – City Drug Enforcement Unit (ICPO-CDEU) collared
Arroyo, 32, a resident of Barangay Zona Sur, Banate, and seized from him shabu with an estimated street value of P150,000.
Prior to him, two alleged members of the Abantao group were arrested following a police anti-narcotics operation on Nov 18 in Guimbal, Iloilo.
Police identified the suspects as Raymond Terosa, 26, of Taneza St., Barangay 1, Tigbauan, Iloilo; and Ruby Dayatao, 27, of Balantad Street, Guimbal who yielded P100,000 worth of shabu.
On October 19, a woman whose alleged lover is incarcerated for a drug offense was arrested in an anti-illegal drugs operation in Molo, Iloilo City.
Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) Team 3 and the Iloilo City Police Station 4 arrested Eliza May Malfarta, 25, a resident of Barangay San Juan, Molo, her alleged cohort, Distin Jay Garvilles, at Zone 3, Barangay Boulevard, Molo.
Malfarta, whose live-in partner Bernie Abantao has been incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, had been put under monitoring for about a month already.
Shabu worth P600,000 was seized from their possession.
The RPDEU-6 believed that Malfarta was being used by the Abantao Gang in the latter’s drug trade.
The group is led by Bernie’s brother, Jovern.
Jovern, Bernie and another brother are all detained at the New Bilibid Prison
Jovern was also the same inmate who allegedly mobilized drug pushers who were caught with P7.4 million of illegal drugs in an operation in the city and province of Iloilo on Feb. 3, 2020.
The group allegedly arranged the transaction with the suppliers.
The items were shipped through roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) cargo ships.
The PNP said they could be either used to be part of the Odicta or Prevendido drug groups, the two main drugs groups earlier operating in Iloilo.
Abantao was arrested in 2016 for an illegal drugs offense.
For a while, his operation was cut short.
But during a surprise drug test at BJMP – District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo almost three years ago, Jovern was found positive.
