DRUG HAUL. Mark Secretaria Duaban, 42, an alleged "pastor", is in handcuffs as authorities conduct an inventory of some P14.1-million worth of illegal drugs believed to be shabu confiscated from him in a buy-bust operation in Cebu City on Wednesday night (March 16, 2022). Regional Drug Enforcement Unit-7 chief Lt. Col. Ronnie Failoga said Duaban is a cousin of Rowen "Yawa" Secretaria, Cebu's third most wanted drug personality who was killed by anti-drug agents in Getafe, Bohol in 2016. (Contributed photo)
CEBU CITY – The police arrested Wednesday night a “pastor”, who is linked to a drug personality killed in a shootout in Bohol in 2016, during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Duljo-Fatima here after he yielded some PHP14-million worth of substance believed to be shabu.
Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit-Central Visayas (RPDEU-7) chief Ronnie Failoga identified the suspect as Mark Secretaria Duaban, 42, a resident of Sitio Riverside in the said barangay.
Duaban is the cousin of Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, a known drug personality listed as Cebu’s third most wanted, who was killed in a shootout with anti-drug agents on Banacon Island off the town of Getafe, Bohol in May 2016.
Failoga said Duaban was arrested in the buy-bust operation launched by an operating team of the anti-drug unit of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) led by Lt. Bonifacio Tañola, after they received reports of the suspect’s illegal drug transaction in the city.
Seized from Duaban’s possession was a white substance believed to be shabu weighing 2.075 kilos and amounting to PHP14.1 million based on the current street value.
The suspect alleged in a media interview that he got a cellphone call to receive the items, which were delivered to him by a nine-year-old boy who was tapped as a drug courier.
Duaban is known in his sitio (sub-village) as a “pastor” who founded a religious congregation called “Maayong Balita” composed of members of his family.
A police report said Duaban was detained in 2016 but it was not clear if it was for a drug case.
The suspect admitted that he became a subordinate of Cresistomo “Tata Negro” Llaguno, a drug personality who was killed while campaigning as an independent candidate for city councilor in this city in 2010.
Duaban is now facing charges for violating the provisions penalizing the act of selling illegal drugs under Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)
