Police kill 3 more suspects in separate drug operations

A police officer guards the area and the ATV (all-terrain vehicle) in front of the crime scene where a drug suspect in Talisay City was killed in a shootout during a buy-bust operation.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

Three more drug suspects who allegedly tried to shoot it out with police officers were killed in two separate anti-illegal drug operations on Thursday in Cebu City and Talisay City.

First to fall was Domingo “Jay-R” Caballes, of legal age, who died after he was wounded in the stomach during a shootout with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) agents in an anti-illegal drug raid in Sitio Kamansi, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

Leia Albiar, PDEA-7 information officer, said Domingo tried to hide in his room and allegedly shot at PDEA-7 agents who tried to enter his room during the raid of the house of Maternidad Batulan, Caballes’ mother-in-law and the target of the operation.

Albiar said Batulan, 50, of Carcar City was also arrested during the raid where she was caught in her living room with 46 sachets of suspected shabu weighing 12 grams with an estimated street value of P59,000.

The raid was conducted at past 2 p.m. after PDEA-7 Chief Yogi Filemon Ruiz received and verified reports of Batulan’s illegal activities.

About two hours later in Palm View Village, Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City, two men were also killed in a shootout with a joint team of police officers during a buy-bust operation.

Manolito “Dongdong” Sencil, 44, who was the target of the raid, and his cohort Jonathan Bacho, 40, died after they shot it out with the police team made up of personnel from the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU), Regional Special Operations Group, Special Weapons and Tactics and the Talisay Police Station.

RDEU-7 chief Supt. Jason Villamater, who led the operation, said during the buy-bust operation, Sencil realized that he was dealing with an undercover police officer and tried to escape as he and Bacho quickly headed to his parked ATV (all-terrain vehicle).

Villamater said Sencil and Bacho also allegedly pulled out guns and fired at the police officers who tried to stop their escape.

Both suspects died in the shootout.

Villamater said they recovered from the suspects a big pack and a sachet of suspected shabu weighing 10 grams with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P115,000.

Villamater claimed that Sencil had been on their list of high-value targets.

The three drug suspects’ deaths followed two men being killed in drug operations in Barili town in western Cebu and in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, on Tuesday.