COTABATO CITY – Anti-narcotics agents arrested a winning candidate for village chief in Barangay Malasila, Makilala, North Cotabato in a predawn raid on Wednesday.
Armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Alexandrex Betoya of Regional Trial Court Branch 16, agents of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 (Soccsksargen) said they were able to seize shabu and drug paraphernalia when they swooped down on Malasila Barangay Chairman Melvin Fontajada in his residence at about 3 a.m.
Fontajada, who won for his third and last term as village chairman during the just-concluded barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, did not resist arrest.
Seized from him were five sachets of substance believed to be shabu with an estimated street value of PHP25,000, three .45-caliber pistol bullets, and shabu paraphernalia.
Fontajada is facing charges for violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act), and RA 9165 (Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
