Slay of drug suspects up in Northern Luzon

MORE SUSPECTED drug personalities were gunned down  in Northern and Central Luzon  last week.

Sheryl Gammad, 25, manager of Lexicon Trading Store in Barangay Bugallon in Ramon, Isabela, was attending to customers when an unidentified man shot her Tuesday at close range.

Cagayan

In Claveria, Cagayan, construction worker Richard Pascua, 35, had just left a bar with his friends in Barangay Centro when he was gunned down.

Police said the victims were not on the drug watchlist.

In Cagayan, Wilfredo Pascua Jr. was driving his motorcycle with his son in Barangay Mabuttal East in Ballesteros town Tuesday when unidentified men on another motorcycle opened fire.

Pascua’s son was injured when their motorcycle crashed.

Senior Inspector Merwin Villanueva, Ballesteros police chief, said Pascua was a former councilman in Barangay Bulala Sur in Aparri and surrendered under Oplan Tokhang last year.

On Jan. 14, Manny Armales, 27, was shot dead near the Cagayan police office in Tuguegarao City.

A sachet of shabu was found in his wallet.

Meanwhile, the municipal anti-illegal drugs councils in Abra certified  all barangays in the province had been cleared of illegal drugs.

La Union

Meanwhile, Senior Police Officer 3 Jose Medina, 53, of the Ilocos regional security group and his daughter Gelian were in a car on their way to Aringay, La Union when motorcycle-riding men fired at them in Barangay Dili in  Bauang town at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

They were taken to the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center in San Fernando City for treatment. 

Bulacan

In Bulacan, Chief Supt. Aaron N. Aquino, Police Regional Office 3,  regional director, identified suspects killed in legitimate police operations as alias “Budoy” in Obando town, and an alias “Mumong” and Emarwin Pabico, alias “Ipa,” in Pandi.

A buy-bust operation by local police in Barangay Cacarong Bata in Pandi around 1 a.m. Tuesday was meant to reel in Mumong but the suspect allegedly fired his gun at police, sparking a fierce gunbattle that ended in his death.

Two hours earlier in the same barangay, Pabico died in a similar drug bust that turned awry.

In Obando, Budoy had just sold P200 worth of “shabu” to an undercover agent on Kalye Banat, Barangay Panghulo, when he sensed police were closing in on him.

Instead of surrendering, he allegedly pulled out his gun, forcing police to shoot him. Wounded, Budoy was taken to the nearest hospital but it was all too late.

A certain Taboboy Coronel reportedly shot it out with anti-drug operatives in Barangay Virgen de las Flores in Baliwag town on Jan. 15. 

Police said two .38-caliber revolvers, sachets of shabu and marked money were recovered from the fatalities. 

The body of an unidentified man  was dumped along Landicho road in Barangay Balasing in Sta. Maria town at around 1:15 a.m. earlier on June 14.

The victim was hogtied, his face covered in packing tape  and a piece of cardboard that read, “pusher ako wag tularan kayo na ang susunod (I’m a pusher, don’t emulate, you are next)” was found near  his body.

Senior Inspector Grace Marron, Abra police spokesperson, said the technical working group of the Cordillera police received the certifications of the MADACs in 27 towns recently.

The 303 barangay drug abuse councils also confirmed that there is no drug user or pusher in 303 barangays in the province.

Benguet, including Baguio City, is also eyeing a drug-free declaration by the end of the year.

Senior Inspector Benedict Gang-aoen, regional anti-illegal drugs special operations task group chief, said 19 barangays in Baguio City and 18 in other areas in Benguet are still being cleared of illegal drugs. – Ric Sapnu, Raymund Catindig