A barangay official and three others were arrested for selling overpriced rubbing alcohol in an entrapment operation in Barangay 88, Pasay, Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities arrested the target suspect Eduardo Salvador, 24, and his mother Gemma Montalbo, 51, who was a barangay kagawad. Their two helpers, both 20, were also caught.
According to Police Capt. Deni Pedroso, chief of the Pasay Police intelligence section, they conducted a buy-bust operation against alias Alvin after the Air Force’s 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing reported to them that he was hoarding alcohol and selling for a much higher price.
Philippine Air Force and Pasay City Police Station seized more than 500 bottles of 500 mL of rubbing alcohol from the suspects.
The suspect sells each bottle of isopropyl alcohol for P186, more than twice its P75 price at the supermarkets.
The suspect’s mother and the other men who carried the boxes served as the lookout for the suspect.
Pedroso said the barangay official might have used her position in the village to buy alcohol and hoard it.
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Barangay official, 3 others arrested for selling overpriced rubbing alcohol
Police recovered 14 boxes of alcohol bottles and surrendered them under the court’s custody.
The four are facing criminal charges over the Price Act.
Yesterday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested a medical doctor for selling overpriced donated thermal scanners in Quezon City.
NBI’s Special Action Unit caught the suspect Dr. Cedric John Sarmiento De Castro in one of its anti-profiteering operations. The doctor was also the alleged president of Lions Club in New Manila, Quezon City.
De Castro allegedly sells 150 thermal scanners for P9,500 each, or a total of P1.2 million, the NBI said Wednesday.
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