Despite limited police resources, the Bohol Police Provincial Office (BPPO) command led by Col. Dennis Palo Agustin has vowed to carry out more aggressive offensives against illegal drugs, which have been blamed on the upsurge of criminality in the province and breakdown of family values. “Patuloy ang ating mga operation laban sa illegal na druga,” Col. Agustin has told Bohol media, “at hindi tayo titigil hanggang maging malaya ang Bohol sa kamandag sa bawal na gamot.” Re-echoing earlier statement of Gov. Edgar M. Chatto who had sought help from the regional PNP office in his goal of making Bohol drug-free, Agustin said the Bohol police would continue to carry out their mandate despite logistical problems they experience in their daily operations. The police director said that although one of the alleged top drug lords in the province had been killed during a gun battle in Bien Unido, the police would not let their guards down, supporting the pronouncement made by regional PNP director Prudencio Bañas during his recent visit in Bohol. “Marami pa tayong gagawin, kaya kailangan naming ang tulong ng mga tao sa Bohol para malutas ang problema sa druga na sumisira sa ating lipunan,” Agustin said. From January 2014 to May 2014, Bohol has been cited as the No. 1 province in Central Visayas where police had hauled the biggest volume and highest value of illegal drugs (nearly P7 million), eclipsing records attained by the provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental.

Meanwhile, shortly before the weekend, police operations had cracked down several drug suspects, including a couple in Pitogo Island. In a buy-bust operation in Carlos P. Garcia Island town, police operatives from the CPG Police Station and Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) had arrested Felimon Badinas Reyes, alyasEkie, and his wife, Maria Soriso Reyes, both residents of Purok 5 in island Barangay of Gaus, CPG Island, Bohol, for illegal drugs. Confiscated from the couple during the buy-bust and a separate search warrant implementation were sachets of shabu, P1,000 cash believed to be proceeds from illegal drugs, and P500 marked money bill. In a separate buy-bust operation in Cortes town on July 9, Bohol police operatives composed of the PIB, Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PAIDSOTG), and BPPO nabbed Randy U. Rosales and Mark Rigor B. Sison at Barangay Upper Dela Paz, Cortes, Bohol. Seized from the suspects during the buy-bust operation were one small plastic transparent cellophane containing white crystalline powder believed to be shabu; P500 marked money bill and one cellphone. After the buy-bust, police effected the search warrant issued by Trial Court Executive Judge Suceso Arcamo on the residence of Rosales in Dela Paz, Cortes.

Police confiscated from Rosales five small transparent cellophane containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu, one .45 caliber pistol with two magazines and four live bullets, and assorted drug paraphernalia. Rosales is reportedly a first cousin of dismissed police officer Owen Rosales, prime suspect in the June 7 killing of Ubay Police Station chief Major George Caña, an anti-drug crusader. Owen was one of the six suspects in the ambush-slay of Caña who was killed during a shootout with the police in a resort in Bien Unido, Bohol. On the other hand, the following day, July 10, members of Loay Police Station arrested another drug suspect whom police had identified as Jerome Aton Sague, resident of Tamblot St., Tagbilaran City. During a check-point at Barangay Calvario, Loay town, Sague was found by police in possession of three sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia, and one caliber of .357 revolver loaded with six live bullets.