PANGASINAN JAIL WARDEN DISMISSED

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Gov. Victor E. Agbayani on Thursday approved the
dismissal of the provincial jail warden of Pangasinan for allegedly
allowing the proliferation of illegal drugs business inside the jail,
People's Journal learned yesterday.

Dismissed from the service without pay and other benefits was retired
police colonel Felimon Doria of Binmaley town. Doria has been suspended
since May 28 and replaced by Senior Insp. Jerick Royales while the
administrative case filed against him was being investigated by a group
formed by Agbayani.

However, provincial legal officer Geraldine Baniqued yesterday said Doria
can file a motion for reconsideration before the office of the Civil
Service Commission within 15 days upon receipt of the order.

The charges against Doria stemmed from a surprise inspection last May 27
when elements of the Pangasinan Police Special Operations Group headed by
Supt. Rolando I. Magno, the intelligence unit headed by Supt. Rayland
Malenab, strike force of the provincial police office and provincial office
of the Criminal Investigation and Detections Group recovered from five
inmates 119 grams of shabu and assorted drug paraphernalia.

The inmates were identified as Abelardo Punzal, former president of the
Association of Barangay Council in Mangatarem town; Larry Lumna alias Ben
Laden; Peter Castillo; Benjamin Lu and Susano Manahan.

Magno initiated the filing of criminal charges against the five inmates who
were described as notorious drug dealers in Region I.

The raid was supervised by provincial administrator lawyer Virgilio Solis
and provincial legal officer lawyer Geraldine Baniqued.

Magno said they conducted the raid after several complaints were filed at
the governor's office alleging the proliferation of illegal drugs inside
the provincial jail involving inmates allegedly "in cahoots" with the jail
guards and the warden himself.

Aside from the controversial shabu business in the provincial jail, the
police also received reports about special treatment allegedly accorded to
some inmates led by Punzal.

It was learned that Doria served as former station commander of Mangatarem
town when Punzal's brother was the the mayor.

Lumna and Punzal were arrested for drug trafficking in 2002 and 2003 by the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headed by regional director Senior Supt.
Antonio Valle, Jr. Punzal yielded 21 heat-sealed sachets and two plastic
bags containing shabu weighing 106 grams.

He also yielded drug paraphernalia, P9,898.50, and $45 believed to have
come from the proceeds in selling illegal drug and four notebooks
containing drug transactions outside the jail.

Seized from Castillo were four heat-sealed plastic sachets of shabu
weighing 19 grams, drug paraphernalia and one cellphone. Lumna yielded
three pieces of aluminum foil with shabu, two cellphones and P24,000 cash.

Two heat-sealed plastic sachets of shabu weighing 9.2 grams and a notebook
containing drug transactions outside the jail were recovered from Manahan.

The confiscated items were submitted to the PNP crime laboratory in
Urdaneta City for examination.

Doria, for his part, said he has no knowledge about the illegal drugs trade
of Punzal and his group but blamed some of the jail guards for the group's
illegal activities inside the jail.

Doria also said his name was never mentioned by the group in its illegal
drugs trade inside the jail, so there is no sufficient ground to have him
linked to any illlegal activities of the five inmates.