The Umpad brothers, John Vincent, Ruben and Jerome before they were released from jail last Sept. 30. Barely three days later, they were killed in a police operation. Police claim they are members of the Sadaya drug ring, which also operates inside the Mandaue City Jail.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
THE Mandaue City Police arrested alleged members of the Sadaya Drug Group in three separate places in Mandaue City, and confiscated packs of shabu and firearms.
Jubirth Jumao-as and Filoteo Maloloy-on of Barangay Paknaan were arrested by City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) agents led by Insp. Troy John Lalamunan at dawn Monday in a buy-bust operation where over five grams of suspected shabu were seized.
A separate buy-bust operation by the Centro Police Station led by Chief Insp. Aldrin Villacampa led on Tuesday to the arrest of Marlon Maringuran, of Barangay Looc, from whom 11 small sachets of suspected shabu and the P300 buy-bust money were recovered.
Police from the Canduman station also served a search warrant on Elbert and Elsa Sadaya, allegedly members of the Sadaya Drug Group yesterday at their residence at Barangay Canduman, but Elbert managed to escape.
Police said they recovered from the Sadaya house over five grams of suspected shabus, two air rifles and two .38 revolvers loaded with three ammunitions each.
Elbert’s wife Elsa, 49, was arrested for possession of a small and medium sized sachets of suspected shabu. Her husband Elbert will be charged with possession of illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms.
No separate probe
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) will not conduct a parallel investigation on the killing of the Umpad brother in Mandaue City.
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, PRO-7 director, said there was no need for them to nvestigate the buy-bust operation that killed brothers Jerome, John Vincent and Ruben Umpad because Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) director Senior Supt. Roberto Alanas has been directed to submit a full report and account on how the operation was conducted.
Espino reiterated that the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) or any other government agency is welcome to conduct an investigation.
“As I’ve said we are open also for CHR to conduct its own investigation,” Espino said.
Yesterday, CHR-7 investigating team went to the family of the Umpad brothers Jerome, Ruben and John Vincent, and started their investigation.
Buy bust
Espino said MCPO reported that the buy-bust operation on Oct. 2, which resulted in the death of the three Umpad brothers, was a legitimate operation that resulted to he killing of the brothers because they fired at the police first, forcing the cops to fire back at them.
The Umpad family refuted the claim, saying the policemen barged in their shanty by breaking down the door, as they were sleeping.
Espino said it was normal for a family to deny that the operation was legitimate “but we are open if they (Umpad family) could give us concrete information or any witnesses who can tell that the operation was a violation of our police operational procedures,” Espino said.
The police general also assured the family of their safety, saying they should not be afraid to file a complaint against the police operatives.