Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon commended authorities for the confiscation of P340-million worth of shabu in a subdivision during a buy-bust operation on March 14. 

“We congratulate the PDEA-Regional Office NCR , PNP-Muntinlupa and Muntinlupa City's Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Office (DAPCO) for this P340 Million shabu raid, which is definitely a big blow to the operations of drug traffickers in Muntinlupa. This is the result I have been anticipating with the instructions that I gave the Muntinlupa PNP through the Chief of Police, Col. Robert Domingo,” the mayor told Manila Bulletin. 

On March 14, authorities conducted the operation in South Greenheights Village, Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa, a subdivision adjacent to the Ayala Alabang Village and Katarungan Village.  

Authorities seized 50 kilos of shabu worth P340 million and arrested two women, Marifel and Liza. 

The shabu worth P340 million seized by authorities in South Greenheights Village, Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa on March 14 (Photo from Muntinlupa Police)

Authorities will file a complaint against the two suspects for violation of Sections 5 (sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals), and 11 (possession of dangerous drugs) of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).

Biazon said the police should also aim for the arrest of bigger fish in the drug trade. 

“As the Muntinlupa Police have been apprehending the street-level pushers, I tasked them to not settle for the small time drug traffickers but rather mine them for information that will lead to the bigger fish in the organization, in coordination with key agencies mandated to enforce the anti-drug laws,” he said. 

He noted that the raid happened in a private subdivision and under a Muntinlupa ordinance, lessors are required to get information from tenants. 

“This particular catch happened in a residence within a private subdivision. This has been a problem in the past, where residential houses in gated communities are used as either distribution centers or even manufacturing laboratories,” said Biazon 

He added, “That was the basis why upon my initiation and proposal, the city council passed Ordinance No. 2023-128, requiring lessors gather information about their tenants and to conduct periodic inspection of the leased property and issue a certification that it is being used only for legal purposes.” 

“This will put an accountability on the property owners who can be included in charges to be filed against them together with those caught with drugs in the property.  Usually, property owners do not bother to check if the houses they rent out are already being used for drug trafficking and the traffickers take advantage of the security provided by a gated community,” he said. 

“While we hail this accomplishment, we also hope that this will result to bigger apprehensions and lead to those in the higher levels of the drug trafficking organizations,” he said.