Another beneficiary of the social amelioration program (SAP) was arrested in a drug buy-bust operation Wednesday in Barangay Totolan, Dauis town.

The suspect, identified as one Marcelita Banate, 47, married, resident of “Gawad Kalinga” Purok 7, Totolan, Dauis, and known among drug personalities as “Madam”, was reportedly caught selling P1,000 worth of shabu to a police poseur-buyer in Barangay Totolan, Wednesday morning.

A team of operatives from the Provincial Intelligence Branch – Drug Enforcement Unit (PIB-DEU) led by P/Major Joemar Pomarejos carried out the entrapment of Banate after several surveillance reports confirmed she was actively involved in the illegal drug trade.

When Banate was already in custody of the operatives following the drug transaction, a police searcher found in her possession another seventeen (17) small cellophane sachets also containing the illegal substance, weighing around 4-grams with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P27,000.

Officials of Barangay Totolan, with representatives of the media and the Department of Justice (DOJ), supervised the conduct of inventory of the drug and non-drug items seized from the suspect.

Charges for illegal sale and illegal possession of a dangerous drug, all violations of Sec. 5 and Sec. 11 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, will be filed against Banate. (KB, WM)