CEBU CITY – Elma Paraiso went viral online last year when she was caught in a surveillance camera stealing the cellphone of a churchgoer.
The 63-year-old woman is in the news again, still for the wrong reason.
ELMA Paraiso (encircled) is captured by a security camera stealing from a churchgoer at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu in Cebu City last September. (Screengrab)
Paraiso was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Ermita here on Wednesday night, Jan. 15.
Operatives of the Waterfront Police Station recovered five grams of suspected shabu from the suspect valued at P34,000.
The woman allegedly admitted to the police owning the contraband, but instead of sulking, she described her arrest a “blessing in disguise.”
Paraiso said her latest run-in with the law helped her realize to finally mend her ways.
She admitted that she was the woman captured in a surveillance camera stealing a cellphone from a churchgoer’s bag inside the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu here last September.
Paraiso said no less than her daughter denounced her actions when the video went viral online.
“Mao tong pwerting sukoa sa akung anak ato, gika ulaw nako nila kaayo, mao nang nalipay ko nga nadakpan nako karon aron mag bag-o na (My child was so mad at me. They despised me that’s why I’m happy that I was arrested now so I can finally reform),” Paraiso told MyTVCebu.
Paraiso said she was forced to sell illegal drugs to enable her to buy medicines for her ailing grandchild.
After previous pleas to reform fell on deaf ears, the woman admitted that she learned her lesson the hard way.
Police said she will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.