CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – More than P61 million worth of illegal drugs weighing 9.043 kilograms were destroyed by the Phil. Drug Enforcement Agency-10 (PDEA-10) at a mortuary Monday afternoon.
PDEA-10 said the total value of incinerated drugs in Monday’s destruction was pegged at P61,493,563.76.
According to Benjamin Recites III, PDEA-10 assistant regional director, most of the illegal substance that was burned came from suspected drug dealers based in Ozamiz City.
He said about 7.955 kilos of alleged “shabu” or crystal meth was confiscated by authorities from Gaudencio and Melodina Malingin, whose middle name is Parojinog, of Ozamiz.
Recites said the arrest of the Malingin couple was conducted by the police.
He said Melodina is the sister of the late Parojinog Reynaldo, the former Ozamiz mayor who was killed, along with several family members and body guards, during a police raid in his home in 2017, more than a year after Pres. Rodrigo Duterte assumed office.
News reports said Melodina died on Sept. 6, 2020 due to failure of the heart to pump enough blood. She had been in detention since 2017.
She died two days after her brother Ricardo Parojinog was found dead inside the detention facility of Ozamiz City police station.
Melodina was declared dead while confined at the Mayor Hilarion A. Ramiro Sr. Medical Center in Ozamiz.
The members of the Parojinog family were among the personalities targeted by the Duterte administration for their alleged involvement in the drug trade.
Recites said the confiscated drugs came from all over the region, but the bulk of it came from Ozamiz.
“Most of the drugs that we have confiscated come from the National Capital Region,” he added.
Recites added that the inventory of illegal drugs in the region is ongoing.
City Councilor Roger Abaday, who was invited to witness the destruction, said it’s good that the drugs were destroyed so these could not be sold back to the streets.
“When I examined the drugs, I noticed these are high-grade, especially those that came from Ozamiz,” Abaday said.
