MAKILALA, North Cotabato ( (May 17) —- Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested a reelected village chief in Barangay Malasila, Makilala, North Cotabato, in a predawn raid on Wednesday, May 16.
Armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Alexandrex Betoya of Regional Trial Court Branch 16, PDEA agents swooped the residence of barangay captain Melvin Fortajada in Malasila, at about 3:00 in the morning.
The PDEA operatives found five sachets of substance believed to be shabu with an estimated street value of PHP25,000, three .45-caliber pistol bullets, and shabu paraphernalia, inside a pouch bag hidden in a locker cabinet.
Fortajada, won for his third and last term as village chairman in the recently-concluded barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
Fortajada, did not offer resistance during the raid, he was immediately brought to General Santos City. he will be facing charges for violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act), and RA 9165 (Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002.
Residents of Malasila said they were not aware of Fortajada’s alleged illegal drugs activity, describing him as a good person.
His constituents said their village chief is a hard working leader and they could not believe he is into illegal drugs-jap/newsline.ph
