FORMER city councilor Benmarc Garcia rarely made the headlines when he served as a member of the city’s legislature for three years. When he was a councilor, he was the silent type and looked like a kid who was raised well. “Bootan man kaayo na siya ug hilomon pa gyud nga bata,” said Councilor Alexander Dacer.
But that was in 2003 to 2007 when Garcia was serving as president of the city’s Sangguniang Kabataan Federation and youth representative to the city council.
Eight years after he stepped down as the city’s top youth leader, Garcia ended up in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of Top 50 suspected drug suspects in Region 10, a city police official revealed over the weekend. Garcia and his girlfriend Haydee Rockwell were arrested by the police and PDEA agents during an operation in Barangay 32 on Thursday night, hours after the same group caught two other suspected drug dealers near the Maria Reyna Hospital.
Police said they were set on filing charges against Garcia, Rockwell, former barangay chairman Alex Escudero of Kinawe, and Lolito Colon today.
Charges were supposed to have been filed on Friday but police said they were still waiting for the results of the laboratory examination of substances seized from the suspects.
Chief Insp. Ariel Philip Pontillas, chief of the city police’s Crime Against Person and Property Desk, said the PDEA has long been after Garcia because of his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade here. Pontillas said Garcia has been in the PDEA’s watchlist.
Councilor Dacer said he was surprised to learn about Garcia’s arrest and about his alleged links to the the drug trade. He said he never expected Garcia to end up behind bars because of drugs.
“Nagto-o ko nadala lang na siya sa iyang mga higala o uyab,” Dacer said. Police seized sachets of suspected shabu from Garcia’s girlfriend during an operation in Barangay 32. Authorities alleged Garcia served as a lookout and as the one who supposedly gets the supply of suspected shabu from Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental.
Councilor Ramon Tabor, chairman of the city council’s police committee, frowned over Garcia’s alleged links to the local drug trade.
“Daotan kaayo kana nga ihimplo nga iyang gipakita sa mga kabataan kay miagi gud siya sa pagka SK Federation president. Dapat siya unta ang nagtudlo sa mga kabata-an sa paglikay anang illegal drugs,” Tabor said. Tabor said Garcia has no choice now but face the charges in court. (nitz arancon)
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