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CEBU CITY, Philippines - One girl said her barkada (peer group) would usually meet on Sundays.
She would tell her parents she was going to church with friends.
Instead, she would go to a mall in Cebu City to meet other members of a group that calls itself the Independent Human Society (IHS).
“Mag-text text ra mi nga kita mi aning lugara (We'd just text each other to meet here),” said the minor.
The girl was among 18 high school and college students arrested by anti-narcotics police Sunday night following complaints of Barangay (village) Mabolo officials that teenagers were using drugs and making too much noise in an open area near the police station and commercial establishments.
The site was a vacant lot where a pot session was going on, according to police.
Police said they conducted surveillance in the morning then made the arrest after 18-year-old Ronel Banisil sold a bundle of dried marijuana sticks to a police agent posing as a buyer.
Eight group members, aged below 18 years old, were later released to their parents. The others were detained pending testing for drug use and the filing of charges of illegal drug possession or selling.
The buy-bust operation was conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Central Visayas at a vacant lot along Andres Soriano Street.
Jessie Tabanao of PDEA-7 said police stumbled on the group's name when they confiscated the teenagers' cellphones and found text messages with the code “IHS”. Some of the arrested youths also wore black t-shirts with the name Independent Human Society designed around a Starbucks logo.
The arrested students were 14 to 26 years old. Several others scampered from the site, eluding arrest.
Banisil, in a separate interview, denied he was using or selling marijuana. He said he was just having a drink with friends when PDEA agents arrived.
The students did not deny being members of the youth group and pointed to Eljun Menancillo, 23, as the founder.
Menancillo, however, said it was another friend who started the group. He said members would just get together to talk and stroll around. They would recruit members through texting.
“Kanang mga friend ra pud sa among mga friend among i-text para mag-meet unya mag-chika-chika,” said Menancillo.
He denied that group members engaged in drugs or premarital sex.
Parents
Parents of the minors went to the PDEA office to pick up their children.
One upset mother was in a state of disbelief.
She said she heard her daughter talk about IHS but thought it was a school organization. She said that her daughter would usually go out on Sundays.
“Ako pud siya palakwon siya ra musimba kay member baya pud na siya sa youth group didto sa among parokya (I would let her go alone to attend Mass because she also belongs to a youth group in our parish),” the mother said.
The mother said she couldn't believe her daughter was involved in drugs because she was a scholar in a private Catholic school and had good grades.
On hindsight, the mother said she found it odd that her daughter would also carry her cellphone around and keep it tucked in her pocket.
