‘Drug lord’ shot dead in Cordova

An alleged drug lord who was caught with over P200 million worth of drugs in Quezon City in 2015 was shot dead yesterday by unidentified men in Sitio Agad-Agad, Barangay Poblacion, Cordova town.

Gary Go, 57, a Filipino-Chinese businessman from Quezon City, died on the spot after sustaining several gunshot wounds in the body and head.

Go had been living in Cordova town with his common-law-wife after he was supposed to have been freed on bail while his case remained pending in court, reports reaching the Cordova police said.

Go was about to board his vehicle, a green Honda Civic, when a gray van appeared and three unidentified men disembarked from it and repeated fired shots at him, said Senior Insp. Janus Giangan, Chief of the Cordova Police Station, quoting witnesses.

The gray van fled immediately but nobody was able to jot down its plate number.

SPO4 Eleazar Llanes, the case investigator, said a traffic enforcer tried to follow the van but later backed off because the men on board the vehicle were armed.

“Dunay posibilidad nga gi-unay siya sa iyang mga kauban (There’s a possibility that he was killed by his drug cohorts),” said Giangan.

Giangan said an empty bag was found at the crime scene and it was likely that the assailants took something out from the bag, most probably a stash of drugs, before they fled.

He said there were no witnesses who saw the bag being emptied of its content but it was also unlikely that Go would go around bringing an empty bag with him.

According to Giangan, they had been alerted about Go’s presence in Cebu and the likelihood that he would be disposing big volumes of drugs here. The police were in the process of placing him under surveillance when he was killed, he added.

He said they tried to find CCTV cameras at the crime scene and nearby areas to the exit point going to Barangay Pilipog but none were found.

The Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) of the Cordova police found seven spent cartridges of .45 caliber pistol and a spent cartridge of 9mm pistol at the crime scene.
Based on his identification card, Go was in Cebu doing business with a Mactan-based hotel as quantity surveyor for a company called “ASEC Devt. and Construction Corp.” based in Cubao, Quezon City.

He was sometimes seen in his common-law wife’s residence in Sitio Agad-Agad in Barangay Poblacion of the town, Giangan said.

Based on police records, Go was arrested in a drug operation in Quezon City in June 2015 yielding 45 kilos of shabu (crystal meth) valued at P225 million.

He was reportedly out on bail while his case was being heard in court.

Go’s live-in partner was still in shock and was given time to recover before she would be asked to give a statement to the police, said Giangan.

Why out on bail?

Why Go was able to obtain bail for a non-bailable offense was still being looked into by the police.

It was on June 11, 2015 when Go, then 54, was arrested by elements of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD)in a buy-bust operation. Also nabbed with him was Sierralyn Borromeo Cabarrubias, 25, a resident of Lapu-Lapu City.

Seized from them were packs of shabu totaling 45 kilos and valued at P225 million.

Go has reportedly been residing in the town of Cordova for some time now but the police were yet to know when he began living in Cebu.

A source from the local police intelligence community said they suspected that Go was using Cebu as his center for his nationwide drug distribution network.

Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CCPO) director, told Cebu Daily News that he has directed Giangan to look into Go’s activities in Cebu prior to his death.

Barok’s cousin shot dead

Hours before Go was killed, another suspected drug-related killing occurred in Danao City.

Reynald Francis Alvaro,39, the alleged right-hand man and cousin of confessed drug lord Alvaro ‘Barok’ Alvaro, was killed while his daughter landed at the hospital after five unidentified men shot them outside their house in Duterte St. of Barangay Suba at past 9 p.m. on Monday.

Supt. Jaime Quiocho, Danao City Police station chief, said the motorcycle-riding suspects, with their faces covered in masks, attacked Reynald while he was standing in front of his house with his daughter.

Reynald died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body. His daughter was rushed to a local hospital for still undetermined number of injuries.

Quiocho said they were looking into personal grudge and his alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade as the motives for the killing.

Reynald was in the Danao City police’s drug watch list and was considered as a level two drug pusher, said Quiocho.

Quiocho said that after Barok was detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), Reynald allegedly took over his cousin’s drug trade in Danao City.

He said it was hard to pin down Reynald because he never went around with illicit drugs.

“Mahirap itong hulihin kasi yung style nila ay sila nalang yung mangongolekta at iba na yung nag-peddle (Its hard to catch him because their style was just to collect the proceeds while others did the peddling),” said Quiocho. WITH REPORTER NESTLE L. SEMILLA