Leading his first operation as head of the Bacolod City Police Office’s City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) on Friday, Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido and his team seized PHP420,000 worth of suspected shabu in Sitio Sibucao, Barangay Banago.
The highlight of the operation: He prayed over suspects Rolando Bernabe, 36, a high-value target, and Ma. Christina Aguia, 32, a street-level target, as shown in the video of the operation posted on the Facebook page of Aksyon Radyo Bacolod.
“Daku among kalipay, Lord magpasalamat sa imong higayon nga nag malampuson among operation dinhing Sitio Sibucao (It is with great joy, Lord that we thank you for our successful operation here in Sitio Sibucao),” Espenido said in his prayer.
“Amon kang ginapasalamatan sa paghatag nimong higayon nga walay namatay. Labaw sa tanan among na-recover ang mga illegal nga mga butang nga gihuptan niining mga tawhana (We thank you for this opportunity, and that no one died. Above all, we were able to recover the illegal items from these people),” he added.
At about 2:45 p.m., Bernabe sold a sachet of shabu worth PHP1,000 to an undercover police officer. He also yielded seven more sachets of the prohibited substance, a digital weighing scale, and cash worth PHP2,000.
Seized from Aguia were seven sachets of shabu, a mobile phone, and a black coin pouch. Their companion Ramie Poja Amodia evaded arrest.
Last Wednesday, Espenido announced in a press conference that he was back on duty after almost two months of vacation to kick-off the CDEU’s campaign against drugs this year.
He invited people behind the organized drug groups operating in Bacolod to meet with him within January as a means to stop the illegal drug supply in the city.
“Not to surrender, but to cooperate. Help the government, help the President, help the police, help me so we can get those who are really involved in illegal drugs,” Espenido added. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)