The newly-appointed chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, Director Camilo Cascolan, urged local government units on Tuesday to consider subsidizing the cost of putting air conditioning units in police stations in Metro Manila.
Cascolan, who inspected police stations in the NCR Monday, said that working conditions in a number of police stations are being affected by the absence of air conditioning units.
He likewise visited the police detention cells that President Rodrigo R. Duterte earlier ordered improved after the occurrence of a number of deaths due to overcrowding.
Exhaust fans have been ordered to be placed in these detention places as a stop-gap measure.
On Monday, two more detainees died at the Pasay Police station’s Drug Enforcement Team Custodial Facility.
The two inmates — Eduardo Angeles, 48, and Arman Castillo, 32 — were found unconscious by PO1 Anthony Fernandez and were rushed to the Pasay City General Hospital but were declared dead by attending physician, Dr. Noah Padilla.
The Pasay City jail, which measures 23 square meters, houses more than a hundred detainees awaiting papers to be moved elsewhere.
In another development, In Davao City, a former sergeant of the Philippine Army tagged as the top 7 in illegal drugs watch-list and his companion were arrested by the operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA 11) during a buy-bust operation at Purok 4, Barangay San Juan, Maco, Compostela Valley on Sunday.
Antonio Rivera, PDEA 11 director, identified the suspects as Charlon Antonio, 42, married, and Elmer B. Martinez, 29, single, both of the same place.
Rivera said agents from the Compostela Valley Provincial Drug Enforcement Office, Davao Del Norte Provincial Drug Enforcement Office of PDEA 11, Compostela Valley Drug Enforcement Unit and Maco Municipal Police Station conducted the buy-bust operation.
He said the two were arrested for conspiring with each other in selling more or less 500 grams of Cannabis Sativa L, locally known as marijuana worth PHP2,000 to an operative who acted as poseur buyer.
Another two small sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu, and the buy-bust marked money bills were also recovered during the anti-drug operation. PNA
Rivera said Antonio is one of the elusive and notorious drug personalities operating in Compostela Valley.
The suspects are now detained at the Maco Municipal Police Station jail facility while the seized items were submitted for laboratory examination.
Both suspects will also face cases for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.