An alleged hitman of suspected drug lord Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro is dead.
Police gunned down Christian Baton in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Guisok, Barangay Tuburan, Danao City, on Friday evening.
Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, the police chief of Danao City, said Baton tried to engage police operatives in a shootout, prompting them to gun him down.
“Nisuway man og bunot so among giunhan (He pulled out his firearm, so we immediately shot him),” he said in a phone interview.
He said the local police scored big in killing Baton as he is one of Barok’s at least 10 hitmen.
Barok is currently detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) after he surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation in Bohol on June 21.
Batobalonos said they received reports that Baton was one of the two men who strafed the Danao Police Station last August 12. The strafing incident happened just hours after Barok’s brother, Medz, was killed in a police buy-bust operation in the city.
Baton, who was in his 30s and Barok’s neighbor in Sitio Pulangyuta, Barangay Looc, Danao City, suffered gunshot wounds on his chest and head. He was rushed to the Danao City District Hospital but died moments later, said Batobalonos.
Recovered from Baton’s posession were a 9 mm pistol and a medium-sized plastic pack that contained shabu worth P36,960 based on the value set by the Dangerous Drugs Board.
Based on the information the police received, Baton would kill anyone upon the instructions of Barok.
Most of those Baton allegedly killed, he said, were drug suspects who failed to remit proceeds of illegal drugs.
“We continue to monitor their other companions. Kuyaw ni sila (These persons are dangerous),” Batobalonos said.
Accomplishment
Baton is now the 74th drug suspect killed in a police operation. Records of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) showed that 73 suspected drug pushers were killed in police operations in the region from July 1 to August 25, while 97 others were gunned down by still unidentified assailants.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of PRO-7, said Baton’s death will surely have a positive impact in the peace and order situation in Danao City.
“Neutralizing a drug pusher and hitman was a good accomplishment of the Danao City police. Di makakaligtas at magtatagumpay ang mga gustong lumaban sa mga kapulisan (Anyone who challenges our policemen won’t be successful),” he told Cebu Daily News in a text message.
“Hindi dapat maghari ang mga kriminal kaya dapat lang na sila ang mamatay ’pag lumaban sila (Criminals should not reign, and so they should die if they will fight back). The good will always prevail,” he added.
Taliño said there will be no let up in their campaign against illegal drugs.
“Tuloy-tuloy yong mga trabaho natin. (Our work continues). We were given only three to six months to get rid of illegal drugs, and so we need to double or triple our efforts,” he said.
In pursuing drug suspects, he reiterated the need for policemen to think of their safety and to defend themselves.
“If their lives are in danger, of course they need to make sure that they are alive while the targets are dead,” said Taliño, the former chief of the Special Actions Force.
Stay alert
However, he advised police operatives not to be complacent as Barok’s gang members might retaliate.
“We don’t know what’s on their mind. We need to be alert,” Batobalonos said.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) earlier sent additional troops to Danao City to ensure the safety of local policemen following threats purportedly from the camp of slain drug suspect Medz Alvaro, Barok’s brother.
Batobalonos said they got at least five text messages that contained threats addressed to the police. The messages stated that the sender would take a life from the police station because a life was taken from them, he said.
Medz was killed in what police said was a shootout during a drug bust operation in Danao City last Aug. 11. Hours later, unidentified men on board a motorcycle strafed the Danao City Police Station.
Batobalonos said the threats died down last week, but the local police station is still under heightened alert status.
“We have not received any threats for a week now, but we don’t want to be complacent. We don’t know what their plan would be,” he said.
Monitoring
Barok, on the other hand, has been placed on isolation anew amid suspicion that he was able to get hold of a mobile phone and had stayed in contact with members of his family in Danao City who allegedly continued to operate his drug trade.
Barok, said to be the top drug lord in Cebu province, is facing charges in court for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 after he was found in possession of 6.74 grams of suspected shabu in Barangay Catmon-Daan, Catmon, Cebu, on April 10, 2015. But Barok was able to elude arrest and had gone into hiding until his surrender last June.
Based on the information of the police, Barok’s areas of distribution allegedly included Danao City, Compostela, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod and Camotes. He also reportedly owns a beach resort in Catmon.
Barok was also accused of masterminding the murder of Senior Insp. Jonas Tahanlangit, an anti-drug crusader who was shot and killed last April in the town of San Francisco on Camotes Island.
Batobalonos said they have long been monitoring Barok’s alleged cohorts in Danao City, one of whom was Baton.
He said a poseur buyer transacted with Baton, but when the latter noticed the presence of policemen, the suspect immediately pulled out his gun and fired at the operatives.
Last month, Baton surrendered to the police during the implementation of the Oplan Tokhang, a campaign that involved policemen knocking on houses of drug suspects and asking them to surrender. But he returned to his old ways soo after, said Batobalonos.
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