By Minka Klaudia Tiangco and Rizal Obanil
Seven of the group of persons seen on the viral video who were cursing President Duterte while in a supposed pot session surrendered to authorities Wednesday.
Those who surrendered were identified as Randal Louis Roque, 20, student, and a resident of Barangay Tugatog, Malabon City; Comelio Aguilar Jr., 22; Kurt Edison Aflo, 22; Emmanuel Guerrero, 23; Ran-ran Santos, 23; Cedrick Acharon y Alisoso, 21; and Juaneil Arvie Isles, 18; all jobless and residents of Barangay Tugatog, Malabon City.
The seventh person in the viral marijuana smoking video voluntarily surrenders to the Malabon City Police Station Wednesday before dawn. ( Jun Ryan Arañas / MANILA BULLETIN)
Roque surrendered to the police at 2:35 a.m., Wednesday. He was the last to surrender after his six companions yielded to authorities on Tuesday.
The surrenderers were accompanied by their relatives and barangay officials
A video of the actual surrender was uploaded on Facebook by a certain DK Zarate which has now garnered more than 90,000 shares just several hours after it was uploaded.
The surrenderers were presented before Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), who led the questioning about the video that was posted.
One of the surrenderers revealed that the video was actually done sometime in August of 2016 at one of their friend’s house in Caloocan.
“Natakot na din po kasi kami e. Saka may mga kamag-anak na din po kami na nagkumbinsi sa amin na sumuko na daw. (We were in fear for our lives and our relatives also convinced us to surrender),” said one of the surrenders when asked by Eleazar about the reason for their voluntary surrender.
One of the surrenderers said that he was unaware of the video, as he claimed that the Facebook account where the video was posted was hacked. He also said the group actually did not have a clue who uploaded the viral video.
The surrenderers claimed that they did not know at that time what they were actually doing and were definitely under the influence of marijuana when they made the video.
Reduced to tears, the surrenders asked for forgiveness from the President and claimed that they have since cleaned up and are not doing drugs anymore.
They also said that they did not mean to make a mockery of the war on drugs.
They likewise called on their fellow youth to shun drug use and look at what happened to them as an example so as not to be involved in drugs.
In the actual video, they were also several other persons, including young girls who were present but so far their whereabouts remained unknown.
The surrenderers have agreed to undergo a drug test at the SOCO Valenzuela Satellite Office and are now detained at the Malabon City Police Station.