‘I DID NOT HAVE ANY SHABU WHEN PDEA OPERATIVES ARRESTED ME,’ SAYS EX-COP

Press Statement

for ex-policeman arrested by PDEA Region XII

Refer to:       ATTY. BERTENI “TOTO” CATALUÑA CAUSING

(09178834254, 09206163023, totoacausing@yahoo.com and berteni.causing@gmail.com)

                        Counsel of Lamsani “Jun” Bernabe, Jr.

‘I DID NOT HAVE ANY SHABU

WHEN PDEA OPERATIVES

ARRESTED ME,’ SAYS EX-COP

Ex-cop Lamsani "Jun" Bernabe, being seated inside his rented house after the arrest (Photo of Bombo Radyo, Koronadal) 

The alleged 19 sachets of shabu and the alleged tupperware containing the drugs claimed to have been seized from Bernabe (Photo of Radyo Bombo, Koronadal) 

            As counsel of Lamsani “Jun” Bernabe, Jr. who was arrested by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of Region XII last 9 October, Atty. Berteni “Toto” Cataluña Causing demanded fairness after a news report posted on the Facebook page of Bombo Radyo Koronadal and most likely aired over its frequency.

            Atty. Causing said that when he interviewed Bernabe, the client stood firm that he did not possess any of the 19 sachets of shabu being claimed by PDEA agents to have been seized from him.

            The client insisted that while he had sniffed the drug in the past, he has not been selling any of such illegal drug.

            Bernabe told the counsel that about 11:00 in the evening of 9 October 2014, he went out of the house he and his wife rented in order to get his Persian cat pet. 

At that time, Bernabe said that the persons at their house were only him and his 16-year-old daughter who is studying at Notre Dame of Marbel University (NDMU). He added that his daughter was already sleeping inside her room.

While he was outside their house and their high gate was closed, he said a man he identified as a friend he had helped due to poverty arrived and he opened the gate to entertain him.

Bernabe told his counsel that at that point he saw the companions of that supposed-to-be-friend and Bernabe was alarmed, prompting him to run inside his house and lock the door.

He said that the friend’s companions, who turned out later as PDEA agents, destroyed the window glass beside the door, smashed the door lock at the inside and kicked-open the door.

After that, Bernabe said he was then pushed on his back causing him to fall to the concrete floor and further causing injuries to his lips and chin.

Thereafter, Bernabe said the agents searched the entire house, including the room of her sleeping daughter. 

Bernabe said he pleaded to PDEA agents not to touch his daughter.  “But they still searched the bedroom of my daughter,” he said.

            Bernabe said that the agents also searched their open kitchen located at the right side of their house and it was from that place that the agents at first claimed they found this small Tupperware plastic container.

            He said that the plastic did not belong to him.

            Bernabe also said that while he was subdued, the agents called in a media person and a barangay kagawad to witness the inventory and photography of supposed evidence.

            Bernabe also said he was disgusted because there was no buying or selling of shabu stuff that took place.

He insisted that it was false for the agents to state in their official records and complaint that the alleged poseur-buyer succeeded in buying a sachet of shabu from him through the person claimed by agents as their confidential informant.

            The client stressed to Atty. Causing that being a former policeman himself a drug seller cannot do such a move of trying to escape because the seller is already trapped.

Bernabe said that the fact that the door to their house was destroyed is a testament that there was no such buy-bust operation that took place.

Atty. Causing said that Bernabe will prove during the trial that he and not the PDEA agents are the ones telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Bernabe explained that he was dropped from the rolls of the PNP because of AWOL (absence without official leave) and not for any offense.  And he said he was forced to go on AWOL because his superior at the Isulan Police Station was angry at him over a personal matter.

Edith, the wife of Bernabe, told Atty. Causing that the money she gave to her daughter for the tuition also disappeared after that raid conducted without any search warrant.

Edith, who is a retiring employee of Philamlife Cotabato City, said it was too painful to her because she has never known that her husband would use or sell shabu.  

"He accompanied our daughter because he wanted to take care of her while he has had no work," she said.