EDITORIAL – How rampant is this?

HERE’S an interesting incident that happened a few days ago. Personnel of the Davao City Jail-Annex caught three inmates carrying illegal drugs inside the supposed to be well-guarded detention facility. The suspects were identified as Mark Anthony Salazar, Paul Ryan Tantamco, and Ednor Pablo, who are detained while awaiting trial and conviction of some crimes, probably illegal drug-related violations of law.
An initial report indicated that a jail guard received an intelligence report that some inmates in Cell 4.5 were having a shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) session.
Upon verification, the guards caught the detainees inside the comfort room possessing a small sachet of shabu with three lighters and improvised needle, a straw a small piece of foil, and improvised bamboo stick sealer.
The jail guards immediately called the Talomo Police Precinct and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 11 for assistance. As a result the suspects were brought to PDEA 11 for drug testing while the seized pieces of evidence were also submitted.
We congratulate the guards for a job well done. Of course, without the whistleblower who squealed on the drug users, the drug-bust, humble as it may seem, could not have been possible.
Now, the authorities ought to dig deeper into the matter as the cell incident could just be the tip of the iceberg. This is not farfetched considering that in the New Bilibid Prison, the jailed drug lords continue their bigtime crime –manufacturing shabu – and living it up as if they are free men, not inmates or convicts.