Masbate Ex-mayor's Son Charged with Drug Trafficking

Masbate City (27 August) -- Police has filed criminal charges against the son of a former mayor of Monreal who was arrested last week August 16 for allegedly selling methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" to a police informant.

Senior Inspector Lope E. Badillo of Masbate City Police Station identified the suspect as Benigno C. Cantela, said to be a son of former Mayor Sotero Cantela who reportedly operates nightspots in Legazpi City.

Sources who were involved in the operation said operatives of Masbate City Police Station and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency first apprehended a person in front of Pausok Bar & Grills along the coastal road in Barangay Ibingay, Masbate City, at around 5:20 p.m. after he sold a packet of shabu to a secret agent posing as a buyer.

The sources said that under questioning, the suspect (whose name is being withheld because of his subsequent collaboration with the authorities) pointed to the younger Cantela as the alleged owner of the drugs and said that he was waiting for him to remit the money.

The suspect afterward knocked on the hotel room of Cantela for the payoff. Cantela was arrested as he received the money inside Room 3 of Rendezvous Resort and Restaurant along the coastal road in Barangay Nursery.

Badillo said that when frisked, Benigno put up a futile attempt to keep 11 sachets of shabu, weighing around 1.3 grams and worth about P16,500 in the streets, which the lawmen seized from the pockets of his shorts.

Also seized were paraphernalia for sniffing shabu including aluminum foil and totter, the residues of which indicated that they were used in the past few minutes.

The younger Cantela, listed as No. 7 in the top 10 targets of PNP's anti-drug campaign in Masbate, was under surveillance before his arrest, police said. (PIA Masbate)