CEBU CITY – A worker of the Cebu City Hall was arrested for possessing almost P1-million worth of suspected shabu in a buy-bust operation in Lapu-Lapu City Thursday.
Robert Sable delos Santos, 36, was also caught using a city-owned vehicle during the arrest.
Operatives of the City Intelligence Branch and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas caught Delos Santos with 158 grams of suspected shabu worth P700,000.
City Administrator Floro Casas said that shortly after the arrest, Mayor Edgardo Labella here immediately ordered the termination of Delos Santos.
“He was terminated right away. The mayor will not forgive employees committing this kind of an offense. The mayor will never tolerate those who will be involved in drug pushing or those who are using illegal drugs,” said Casas.
According to Casas, Delos Santos was hired on July 2019 as a driver of the City Hall’s Department of General Services.
Casas said Delos Santos’ name didn’t surface when the City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) tried to weed out City Hall workers who are into illegal drugs.
“His name didn’t surface even after the series of drug testings conducted by COSAP. Actually, his sudden arrest came as a surprise for us,” said Casas.
Casas said the city will conduct its own investigation after it was learned that the suspect used a city-owned vehicle in his illegal drug transactions.
He added that what happened to Delos Santos should serve as a lesson to other city government workers.
“This should serve as a lesson to others because even those who will be caught to be drug users will be slapped with an automatic termination,” Casas said.
Casas appealed to the public not to judge the entire city government just because one of its workers was caught engaging in illegal drug activities.
“Let’s not generalize the entire city government because there will always be bad eggs in an organization,” Casas said.