A noted drug dealer in Tubigon was arrested during a police anti-drug operation early on Friday, barely a month after he was released from jail through the Supreme Court-mandated plea bargaining agreement framework.
According to Captain Robert Lucernas, chief of the Tubigon Police Station, police operatives arrested Jesus Dela Cerna, 27, through a drug buy-bust operation at a bar in Barangay Ubujan in Tubigon at past 12:30 a.m.
“Bag-o pa ni siya naka plea bargain, actually February pa ni siya nakagawas. ‘Nya pila lang ka semana engaged na pud siya kay sigun sa iyang estorya naa kuno siyay nakaila didto sa sulod sa Bohol District Jail,” said Lucernas.
Dela Cerna was allegedly caught in the act of selling shabu to a poseur-buyer and was in possession of shabu weighing eight grams with an estimated street value of P57,000.
He will no longer be able to enter a plea deal.
Those charged with violation of Section 5 of RA 9165 which penalizes sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of all kinds of dangerous drugs are prohibited from entering a plea deal.
Lucernas said that Dela Cerna was operating under a group of an alleged drug lord only identified as “Weng-Weng,” an inmate at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
“Diri ra ni siya sa ubos-ubos. Dili pa man ni sya dako [Dela Cerna] pero paingon na unta siguro ni siya og wa nato ma intercept ning bataa,” Lucernas said.
Law enforcement agencies have long been reporting alleged illegal drug transactions between active players in the drug trade and inmates at the NBP.
Senatorial candidate Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, after his stint as Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief, admitted that drug lords inside the NBP have been controlling drug syndicates outside the national penitentiary.
Before taking on his role as BuCor chief, dela Rosa said that his main goal was to end illegal drug trade at the NBP. (A. Doydora)