By Anthony Giron
GEN. PANTALEON GARCIA, IMUS, Cavite - Nine drug suspects and three suspected thieves including a barangay tanod (village watchman), were killed in separate police encounters over the weekend.
(Jun Ryan Arañas / MANILA BULLETIN)
The suspects reportedly resisted arrest and fired at arresting lawmen, who were prompted to return fire during the operations in two cities and five municipalities.
The latest fatality was one Joey Pascua, a village watchman who, along with an alleged cohort, shot it out with a police team in Sitio Batihan, Barangay Sampaloc IV, Dasmariñas City, at past 7 a.m. Sunday.
Pascua died on the spot.
Recovered from the scene were the suspect’s loaded .9mm pistol, 24 sachets of shabu and five marked P100 bills.
Pascua’s companion, a certain Marwin, escaped.
Superintendent Nerwin Monterey Ricohermoso said that Pascua, a resident of Barangay Burol Main, Dasmariñas, and his group were the alleged supplier of shabu at a jeepney terminal near a mall in the city.
In upland Naic, three alleged drug pushers were also killed by police following the exchange of gunfire in Barangay Muzon.
Superintendent Janet L. Arinabo, Naic police chief, identified one fatality as Julius Piedad Loyola, alias ‘Jay,’ 48.
Loyola and the two still unidentified fatalities died on the spot after they shot it out with drug enforcement unit (DEU) operatives led by Chief Inspector Ernesto B. Caparas Jr.
Arinabo reported that Loyola was the target of the team in the operation.
Loyola was linked to the illegal drugs trade in Naic and neighboring Maragondon and Ternate.
The Cavite provincial police force reported that five more drug suspects were shot dead in legitimate police operations in General Trias City, and the municipalities of Tanza, General Mariano Alvarez (GMA) and Kawit.
The three suspected thieves, meantime, were neutralized in Imus City and Silang town.