INVESTIGATORS of the Carcar City police have yet to find the killers of suspected drug lord Merlito “Etot” Saducas; but investigators are now zeroing in on intelligence reports that Saducas was killed for failing to remit illegal drug proceeds to his boss. Saducas is linked to the group of self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones – a Cebuano drug personality who was on President Rodrigo Duterte’s watchlist.
In an interview with Cebu Daily News, Carcar City police chief Supt. Jose Liddawa said that police investigators were having a hard time identifying the suspects as even witnesses were hard to find. The assailants wore bonnets and fled right after the shooting.
Saducas, 54, was driving his motorcycle with his partner Angeline Cabicas, 30, as his backrider when they were fired upon by one of two men riding in tandem along Sitio Bangko, Barangay Valencia, Carcar City, 42 kilometers south of Cebu City at around 1 p.m., Friday.
The two suffered gunshot wounds on different parts of their bodies killing Saducas while Cabicas remained confined at the Carcar City District Hospital.
Upon learning that Cabicas survived the ambush, contrary to an earlier pronouncement that the woman died along with Saducas, Supt. Liddawa ordered Carcar policemen to secure Cabicas as a possible witness. Liddawa said the woman may be able to shed light on the ambush.
Police are also trying to secure video footage from a close circuit television (CCTV) camera within the vicinity of the crime scene to help find Saducas’ killers.
Liddawa described Saducas as a known drug lord operating south of Cebu province who was of the same level in the illegal drug network as Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz – one of Cebu City’s most wanted – who was killed in Las Piñas City last year during a police operation conducted by the Central Visayas Regional Special Operations Group.
Just like Diaz, Saducas, according to Liddawa, served time at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa where he was believed to have operated an illegal drug network from inside the national penitentiary.
Upon his release from prison, Liddawa said Saducas, a native of Carcar City, continued to expand his drug dealings through a sizeable network of persons involved in the illegal drug trade.
Saducas, he said, allegedly delivered illegal drugs to neighboring towns in southern Cebu, making him the number one drug personality in Carcar City.
Police believe Saducas’ death has managed to paralyze the operations of his group, although it won’t be long before another drug lord sits in his place.
Liddawa said their job now was also to identify who took over Saducas’ turf.