PRIVACY. Members of the family of murder victim Annalou Llaguno ask for privacy when Cebu Daily News sought interview them while at her wake at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junquera Street in downtown Cebu City (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO).
Did Annalou Llaguno squeal on her alleged ex-lovers’ drug operations?
This question was raised yesterday as police started to uncover that because she violated omerta, the Sicilian term for the code of silence among criminal elements when questioned by authorities, it cost Llaguno her life.
Based on police monitoring, members of drug groups are going after each other following the government’s relentless campaign against illegal drugs, revealed Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).
And Llaguno’s killing was likely one of them, authorities revealed.
“We have so far two to three cases wherein the identified assailants and the victims were members of a drug group. They are killing each other, thinking that the person informed the police about their illegal operations,” Taliño said.
According to police investigators, one of the three suspects in last Friday’s broad daylight murder of Llaguno has been identified and is believed to be a hitman of one of the two top drug lords in the Visayas who, at one time or another, was in a relationship with her.
“The suspect is a hitman of drug personalities. It could be Jaguar (Jeffrey Diaz),” said Chief Insp. Ryan Devaras, head of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Cebu City Police Office.
According to Devaras, there was a possibility that Llaguno was killed for giving information to authorities regarding the illegal drugs operations in the region.
“Personal grudge could be the motive in the killing of Annalou. She is linked to two big-time drug lords in the Visayas although we are still validating if she (Llaguno) indeed informed the police regarding any illegal drugs operations,” Devaras said.
But Chief Supt. Augusto Marquez, Philippine National Police (PNP) director for Investigation and Detective Management, revealed during the Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings yesterday that Llaguno was killed because she was suspected to be the one who tipped the police on the whereabouts of Jaguar that led to his death in Las Piñas City last June.
“Based on the investigation, his (Jaguar) girlfriend was killed in Cebu because she was the one who informed the police where Jaguar was,” Marquez said.
“It just goes to show that members of drug syndicates are killing each other,” he added while trying to persuade the Senate that drug suspects killed by unknown assailants were actually assassinated by their cohorts.
Ex-wife, girlfriend
The identified suspect in Llaguno’s slay, according to witnesses, was one of the two gunmen who finished her off when she was waylaid along Carlock Street, Barangay Duljo-Fatima in Cebu City past 2 p.m. on Sept. 30. He was not wearing a helmet when he shot Llaguno in the head.
Devaras refused to divulge the name of the suspect while a manhunt operation is being conducted.
Taliño also said that they received information that Llaguno was the former wife of Kerwin Espinosa, the top drug personality in Eastern Visayas who is now on the lam.
Taliño said their information further revealed that Llaguno eventually separated with Espinosa and became the girlfriend of Jaguar, the number one drug personality in Central Visayas who was killed by a Cebu police-led operation in Las Piñas City on June 17, 2016.
“According to our information, Llaguno was the ex-wife of Kerwin Espinosa and also became the girlfriend of Jaguar,” Taliño said.
Chismis?
The reports the police received regarding Llaguno’s relationship with Espinosa and Diaz, however, have yet to be verified.
“Kung baga chismis lang ni ang tanan (All of these are rumors for now),” stressed Devaras, who is handling the Llaguno slaying investigation.
“Amo usa na nga i-validate kay dunay information nga dili kasado ang biktima ug si Kerwin, pero aduna poy nag-ingon nga kasado ang duha (We have to validate the information. There are those who said the victim was married to Kerwin, but there are also claims that they were not married to each other),” he added.
Devaras said they are coordinating with different agencies to validate Llaguno’s links to Espinosa.
“We are actually looking for records to validate reports that Annalou and Kerwin got married,” he said.
Based on the unverified reports the police received, Llaguno and Espinosa were married but when the latter was arrested in a police anti-illegal drug operation, Llaguno allegedly eloped with Jaguar.
Espinosa was reportedly a key member of Jaguar’s drug ring, but when Espinosa was released from jail, he left Jaguar’s group and established his own syndicate in Eastern Visayas. Kerwin eventually became Eastern Visayas’ number one drug personality.
Devaras said Llaguno was never linked to illegal drugs trade, based on police records.
“We even asked the previous station commanders, but we could not find any record to show she was into drugs,” he said.
An official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7), who claimed to have knowledge on Espinosa’s life and has been following the latter’s operations, earlier told CDN that Llaguno is not Espinosa’s wife.
Privacy
Cebu Daily News yesterday visited Llaguno’s wake at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes along Junquera Street in downtown Cebu City.
Her mother and sister, however, refused to give any statement to the media.
“Please lang, nangayo mi og privacy. (Please, respect our privacy),” Annalou’s mom said.
“Bag-o lang ko naabot, unya mao ni ang akong naabtan (I just arrived and what greeted me was my daughter’s dead body),” she added.
Llaguno’s family has yet to set her burial date.
Based on the investigation, Llaguno was riding a motorcycle with her boyfriend John Joseph Romarate on their way to the latter’s apartment in Barangay Pasil when the assailant fired at her.
Llaguno allegedly slumped on the back of Romarate. One of the gunmen then came closer to the victim to finish her off.
Romarate, who was unharmed, rushed the victim to the hospital but Llaguno was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
Llaguno was the niece of the late Crisostomo “Tata Negro” Llaguno, whom police identified as a drug lord in Cebu City.
Crisostomo ran for Cebu City councilor in 2010 and was campaigning in a crowded area in Barangay Lorega San Miguel when he was gunned down by a lone assailant.