Ex-Catanduanes

lawmaker clrarged
over shabu lab
By EMMANUEL TUPAs

Charges have been filed

against f ormer Catanduanes
congressman Cesar Sarmien-
to over his alleged involve-
ment in a shabu laboratorv in
Virac that was dismantled in
November 2016.
Charges of conspiracy to
manufacture prohiliited na.-
cotics under the Comprehen-
sive Dangerous Dnigs Adt
were filed by the Virac-uolice
t'efore the'Depart-dnt of Sarmi6nto
Justice on Feb. 26. Tabor said Sarmiento re-
In a four-page complaint, ceived millions of pesos in
Virac police chief Mal. Bon protectiolr and carnpaign
Billy David Timuai said money lrom the illegal drug
Sarmiento did not onlv ben- trade. He claimed Isidorol
efit from the shabu libora- rnrhom he said was a frieni
tory but also conspired with of the former congressman,
lormer National Bureau of In- delivered the money.
vestigation anti-illegal drugs Tabor claimed' he and
unit offlcial Augusto Eric Isidoro delivered around
Isidoro in the manufacture of P10 million at the former law-
illegal drugs. maker's residence sometime
The police cited the tes- in Apnl 2016. He said another
timony of Ernesto Tabor |r, P10 millior v''as remitted to
alias Entoy, who claimed to 9arnlirrti' irr August 201(r.
have perional knowledqe Sarrr,ientl) lost to loseoh
of the transactions betweErr CtLa jrr tlLe gubernatorial rice
Sarmiento and Isidoro. in Ca liinduanes in 2019.

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