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It was a drug deal gone sour.
A man who admits being a drug runner said he was abducted and
mauled by his uncle for failing to remit proceeds of a drug sale.
Joey Rhey Basay, 22, was hogtied when he was rescued by Talisay police at the rented apartment of his uncle, Mariano Lawis, at Seaview Heights, Lawaan I, Talisay City on Sunday night.
The young man told Cebu Daily News his uncle was probably mad at him for not delivering a P30,000 to P40,000 payment for shabu he had delivered last April to a certain Boyboy, a drug peddler in Talibon town, Bohol.
But he said his uncle did not believe that Boyboy failed to pay him and suspected instead suspected that his nephew pocketed the money.
Nine blank identification cards with the logo of the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) were found inside Lawis' rented apartment.
With this, Senior Supt. Jesus Gaquing, Cebu provincial police director, ordered Talisay police to conduct a thorough investigation to find out if the ID cards were authentic and whether the abduction was related to drugs.
Lawis was not around when the police arrived at his apartment and found the nephew hogtied. There were tooters, lighters and other drug parahernalia found.
Basay told CDN that he had worked as his uncle's drug runner for almost seven months from September last year to April this year.
He said he stopped after their relationship went sour over the nondelivery of payment for the drugs supplied to Boyboy in Bohol.
Basay claimed that his uncle, sent him to Talibon last April to bring shabu worth P30,000 to P40,000. He said he stayed in Boyboy's house for a month but never received payment so he decided to go home in May.
His uncle didn’t believe that Boyboy failed to pay.
Instead, he accused his nephew of pocketing the money.
“Murag mao nay gikasuk-an ni “Inoc” (Lawis) kay pagtoo niya konsabo ko ni “boyboy” sa wa pagbayad sa utang niini ngadto kang Inoc (I think that was the reason he was angry at me because he thought that I connived with Boyboy when the latter did not pay his debt to Lawis)”, said Basa who called his uncle by his pet name, Inoc.
Insp. Paul Vincent Dorado, Talisay police investigator, said they received reports that Lawis had been a supplier of shabu to smaller peddlers.
He said Lawis was arrested and convicted for illegal drug use in 1992. After his release, Lawis allegedly turned to selling shabu by bulk, usually about 25 grams per delivery.
Basay, a resident of barangay Lutupan, Toledo City, said he went to Talisay City last Sunday for swimming with friends.
After swimming, they were waiting for a jeepney ride in barangay San Isidro, Talisay, when a white Honda Civic with plate number GJL 307 stopped beside them about 2:45 p.m.
He identified those in the car as his uncle Lawis, 44; Manuel Samson, 18 and a certain Tawiwa, 33, who were all residents of sitio Avocado, barangay Mambaling in Cebu City.
Lawis told his nephew to get inside the car because they needed to talk.
The young man said he wasn’t forced inside.
“Wa man ko pugsa, pero nahadlok lang k okay nagda man sila og baseball bat (They did not force me but I got scared because they were bringing baseball bat).”
Basay said he was brought to Lawis' rented house at Seaview Heights where his arms and legs were tied with rope and wire. His mouth was also taped.
He said Lawis hit both his legs with the baseball bat.
During the beating, Lawis kept saying “Nagda lang kag dimalas (You brought bad luck).”
After 30 minutes of beating, he was dumped on a bed while Lawis and his two companions had a pot session.
Basay said he heard the men talk about how he would be tortured to death.
About 7 p.m., Basay noticed the three went out of the house. That’s when he started biting on the tape covering his mouth until it was loose enough for him to scream for help.
A neighbor heard the scream especially that it was quiet at that time because of a brownout and immediately called the police.
The desk officer of the Talisay police received the call about 7 p.m and a patrol was sent to Seaview Heights to verify the report about a man screaming for help in one of the houses.
Inspector Dorado said they first approached the house owner, Alvin Cabigas, to ask permission to enter.
After Cabigas agreed, policemen barged in and found Basay in a room on the third floor. He was lying face down with his hands and legs tied behind him. A rope was tied around the bed post. His mouth was partially covered by a masking tape.
Basay had bruises all over his body.
“Mura lagi siyag baboy nga gihiktan sa pagkakita namu niya (He looked like tied pig when we found him),” said Dorado.
Demetria Larosa, a laundry woman of the Cabigas family for seven years, said Lawis had been renting Cabigas' house for almost three years.
She said men would go in and out of the house and that last month, “naa mi nakit-an mga laki nga murag sabog (We saw men who looked like high on drugs).” She said she heard Lawis planned to give up the house and move to Bohol.
The house was barely furnished, according to police.
A neighbor said he often saw Lawis with his friends who had many tattoos on their bodies.
Police found drug paraphernalia in the house and nine blank TRS IDs of the CCPO signed by its former head, Senior Insp. Ambrosio Ibones.
Police are looking for Lawis to face charges of serious illegal detention and physical injuries for abducting Basay.
Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., chief of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) said he believed that the blanks IDs were fake because the TRS had not issued any ID, even to their confidential agents.
Only confidential agents from other police units had IDs. He did not name these units.
Comendador said city policemen would check on the background of Lawis, a resident of barangay Mambaling, and his nephew on allegation that they were peddling illegal drugs. /With a report from Correspondent Chito O. Aragon
