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By Jeannette
I. Andrade, Reporter
TASK Force
Abra is investigating reports that an Abra mayor and his children,
who were rounded up in drug sting operations more than a week ago,
are enjoying special privileges while in detention at the provincial
jail.
TF Abra
commander Senior Supt. Eugene Martin said he received a text message
from an inmate at the Abra provincial jail in Bangued, complaining
that Langiden mayor Felix Castillo, his son and Danglas, Abra Sangguniang
Bayan member Nonito Wilbur Castillo, his daughter Evelyn Castillo,
and other alleged accomplices Cristina Molina, Diony Trinidad, and
Rodel Panelo are being extended VIP treatment by the jail warden.
“The report
also indicated that Mayor Castillo is not sleeping inside his
detention cell but inside the room of the Provincial Jail Warden,”
Martin pointed out.
Castillo, it
was learned, is an ally of Gov. Vicente Valera of Abra who exercises
control and supervision over the provincial jail.
Valera himself
is a suspect in the December 16, 2006, assassination of Rep. Luis
“Chito” Bersamin outside a Quezon City church.
Martin said
that the investigation would determine the veracity of the
information and why the mayor and his co-respondents are being
extended preferential treatment.
“Are they
being given VIP treatment by the jail guards for monetary
considerations or is this an order coming from higher-ups?” he
pointed out.
Martin
revealed that Nonito Wilbur Castillo had previously been arrested
for drug pushing but was able to post bail.
He was
arrested on February 10, along with his father and sister, after
they allegedly allowed their house in Penarubia Street, Zone 4, in
Bangued town to be used as a drug den.
A sting
operation by TF Abra and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
bagged yielded 112 grams of shabu worth P300,000, Martin said.
Mayor Castillo
and his co-accused have been charged with violations of Republic Act
9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 before the Abra Prosecutors
Office for which they were not allowed to post bail. Specifically,
Castillo was slapped with a charge of maintaining a drug den.
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