ILOILO CITY — Law enforcers failed to arrest the businessman-son of a former mayor of Remedios T. Romualdez town, Agusan del Norte in a buy-bust operation in his residence at Banker’s Village, Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro, Iloilo City on Wednesday.
Clint Soliva, son of the late mayor Nilo Soliva, is listed as a high-value target level 1 by the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit 6 (Western Visayas). He owns a resto-bar in this city.
Members of RDEU-6 and the Jaro Police station conducted a buy-bust operation at about 8:30 p.m. against Soliva.
A poseur buyer was supposed to meet the subject near his house to buy a sachet of “shabu” (crystal meth) for PHP5,200.
They were expecting Soliva to give the shabu to the poseur buyer but instead sent his runner identified as Ryan Constantino, 39, who led the poseur buyer to the house of the suspect.
“We are expecting that our target will be there because he is the one who is answering our text messages and calls but we were surprised again that his live-in partner was the one who handed over the item (suspected shabu),” Senior Insp. Kennith Bermejo, RDEU-6 team leader, said in an interview Thursday.
Soliva’s live-in partner, Rosalie Gellanga, was arrested together with Constantino for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Bermejo said they recovered seven more sachets of suspected shabu, amounting to about PHP50,000 inside the house.
Meanwhile, a shotgun and carbine with assorted live bullets were also confiscated from Joely Develes, who is renting a room inside the house of the suspect.
Develes was also arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
The three are now detained at the Jaro Police Station.
Gellanga later told police investigators that Soliva is in Metro Manila. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
