BUSTED, DEAD

The latest drug peddler shot dead in police operation was from Cordova 

It had been a full week of respite from news about drug suspects coming out lifeless after a bloody encounter with disguising policemen during buy-bust operations.

Since the Duterte administration declared a relentless war against illegal drugs, this was the longest lull in Cebu from accounts of drug-related killings by policemen.

But on Sunday, while the rest of Cebu was celebrating the Solemnity of Christ the King and the end of the liturgical year of the Catholic Church, a suspected drug pusher’s life was ended before daybreak during a shootout with the police in Barangay Alegria, Cordova town, 19 kilometers from Cebu City.

Just split seconds before he was able to pull out his caliber .45 pistol tucked in his waist, 32-year-old Marlon Miano, tagged as a “high-value target,” was killed outside his house by a six-man team of operatives of the Cordova Municipal Police Station led by Senior Insp. Jomar Medil.

“After sensing that he was transacting with an undercover cop, Miano immediately threw off his items and pulled out his gun. He was so close to opening fire at us, but we were quick to neutralize him,” said Medil, chief of the Cordova police.

The death of Miano came a full week after another suspected drug pusher, Michael Baraquel, was killed by operatives of the Naga City Police Station and the Central Visayas Regional Intelligence Unit 7 in a joint buy-bust operation at Sitio V. Rama, Barangay Langtad, Naga City on Nov. 13.

Miano is now added to the list of drug suspects killed in police operations in Central Visayas, which, from July 1 to Nov. 16, has reached 138. Over the same period, records from the Police Regional Office (PRO-7) also showed that there were 198 more drug pushers or users who had been gunned down by unknown assailants in vigilante-style killings in the region, mostly in Cebu City and province. In Miano’s case, Medil said the suspect was carrying a loaded caliber .45 pistol. Also recovered from him were a medium-sized and 29 small sachets containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu and the P500 buy-bust money.

Miano was considered a high-value target since he had allegedly been a notorious drug peddler in Cordova, a town on Mactan Island.

Before the buy-bust operation was launched against him, the police received a handful of tip-offs from concerned citizens sent through text messages regarding his drug activities.

Miano was the first drug suspect to be killed after a full week filled with a series of buy-bust operations conducted by the police and the agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 which resulted to the confiscation of voluminous quantities of suspected shabu, hitting an estimated amount of P8.4 million.

Since early this month, drug enforcement agents have seized over P50 million worth of shabu and had arrested some of Cebu’s alleged biggest drug dealers, including Maria del Mar who was nabbed on Nov. 7 with two kilos of shabu valued at P32 million in Sitio Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

In the case of Cordova, Medil said that from their legitimate police operations, they were able to “neutralize” six drug suspects since July 1, with Miano being the latest suspect in the count.

“I don’t want to use the term ‘killed.’ I prefer using the word ‘neutralized’ since the former implies that the act was intentional. Just to make it clear, di namo intention ang mopatay (It is never our intention kill),” Medil explained.

“We want to ensure our safety. We don’t want them (drug suspects) to fire at us first. Once the suspect is armed and if he insists on not dropping his firearm, we take it as a sign that he is ready to fight us.”

After the encounter, police recovered Miano’s cellular phone that contained exchanges of text messages with other drug pushers asking that he deliver them shabu.

Some of the text messages were sent to and by drug pushers in Cordova who were already arrested and detained, Medil said.

Medil said that Miano could dispose 30 grams of shabu per week; and based on their initial investigation, he got his drug supplies from Barangay Calawisan in Lapu-Lapu City, Barangay Pasil in Cebu City and from Talisay City.

“Daghan gapangompra ani niya (There are a lot of pushers getting their supply of drugs from him). We had placed him under surveillance for almost a month, and some suspects we had previously arrested squealed on him as their supplier,” Medil told Cebu Daily News.

He said they were already conducting follow-up investigations and validations to track down those who have been transacting with Miano.

Medil said that being a drug pusher who was usually after the profit, Miano sold drugs to anybody including fisherfolks in their locality.

“We’ve also arrested quite a number of fishermen who were using drugs. When we interrogated them, their most common reason for sniffing shabu was that the illegal drug provided them an enhanced vigor so they could perform better and productive in their jobs. Illegal as it is, this is an unacceptable reason. Sayop ni nga panghuna-huna (This is an erroneous way of thinking),” Medil said.

He said that there also others users in their locality, who, despite being poor, would choose to buy shabu over food.

A sachet of shabu has a current street value of around P300 to P350, according to Medil.

He said that what shabu users would usually do is to chip in whatever amount they have until they could buy and share the drug. A single sachet can be shared by five users at most.

Since the administration’s relentless campaign against illegal drugs, the Cordova police now has 500 drug surrenderers, most of them are users of the illegal drug shabu.

Out of the town’s 13 barangays, the ones that registered the most drug surrenderers are Cogon, Alegria and Poblacion.

“Our drug operations are still ongoing as well as with our Tokhang (Toktok Hangyo) and Taphang (Tapok Hangyo). And our detention cells are already too crowded,” Medil said.

Plans to renovate their detention cells are ongoing although the project is still up for bidding.