The police’s Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco), working until late at night, cordon off the area in Sitio Maghaway Proper, Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City where three suspected pushers were killed in a drug bust at past 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018.
CDN PHOTO/BENJIE B. TALISIC
DRUG WAR
Three persons were killed by police operatives while two others were arrested in separate drug busts in Talisay City on Saturday.
The killings happened just a day after three other suspected drug pushers believed to be involved in an earlier shooting and wounding of a policeman were killed in a hot pursuit operation in the same city.
The two incidents were unrelated even as they all involved drug suspects, according to Supt. Marlu Conag, Talisay City Police Station chief.
Yesterday’s fatalities were identified as Susano Labrador, Vincent Ceballos, and Warlito Tecson, all of whom were residents of Sitio Maghaway Proper, Barangay Maghaway in Talisay City.
Conag said the subject of Saturday’s buy-bust operation was Labrador and another drug suspect, Ariel Olivar, who escaped during the operation.
“These persons were newly identified, but they are the top two drug suppliers in Talisay,” said Conag.
He said that based on their investigations and interviews with the drug pushers they arrested in past operations, the names of Labrador and Olivar surfaced as their suppliers.
A shootout?
The Talisay police together with the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG), Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC), and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) conducted a buy-bust operation in Sitio Proper Maghaway at past 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Conag said that both Labrador and Olivar opened fire when they realized they were transacting with police operatives.
“They sensed that they are transacting with police operatives, that prompted them to fire at the police that resulted in exchange of gunfire,” said Conag.
Conag said the three suspects were dead on the spot while Olivar and their other cohort identified as Jackson Segundino managed to flee.
The police confiscated a bulk of suspected shabu from the suspects. Conag said they were not yet done with the inventory as of this writing.
He said they also able to recover four firearms from the suspects.
“Hard-core” drug pushers
Conag said that the five drug suspects, including those who escaped, were considered as “hard-core” drug pushers in the area.
Based on their intelligence report, the police said that Labrador a.k.a “Sano” had been implicated in two murder cases, including killing of a barangay councilor in Talisay.
“Labrador is reported to (have) control (over the) illegal gambling activities in Barangay Maghaway and was also considered (as) one of the most dreaded (persons) in the area, (and) even raped wives (whose) husbands work far,” said Conag.
He added that Labrador was also the uncle and “figurehead” of a high-value target regional level drug personality.
Olivar, who is more known as “Ladoy,” is considered as the leader of the group, said Conag.
According to Conag, Olivar is a “very well known” drug pusher in Talisay City and was the “up-line” of the supplier Cheryl Herongay, who was arrested in Talisay earlier this month with around P10 million worth of shabu.
Conag also claimed that Olivar hired hitmen from Barangay Duljo Fatima in Cebu City to liquidate police officers in Talisay after they intensified their campaign against illegal drugs.
Meanwhile, their three cohorts — Ceballos, Tecson and Segundino — were considered as drug disposers of Labrador and Olivar.
Conag added that Segundino belonged to the top five most wanted persons in Talisay with two warrants of arrest for murder.
Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) and other policemen from the Cebu Provincial Police Office and the Talisay City Police Station inspect the crime scene in Sitio Maghaway Proper, Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City, where three suspected drug pushers were killed during a drug bust on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018.
Not related
Conag clarified that the incident yesterday that killed Labrador, Ceballos, and Tecson was not related to the hot pursuit operations that also killed three suspected drug pushers on Friday.
“Hindi. Hindi sila (the operation in Barangay Maghaway and hot pursuit in Barangay Tabunok) related,” Conag said.
Last Friday, three suspected drug personalities identified as Ramonito Maneja, Arniel Hernane, and a certain “Joseph” were killed in a hot pursuit operation conducted against Rolando Valdez.
Prior to the hot pursuit operation, Talisay police were about to conduct a buy-bust operation against Valdez but the latter sensed the presence of the operatives and shoot first, which wounded PO1 Jaylord Taping.
Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) chief, claimed that aside from being drug personalities they received reports that these suspects were hitmen.
“We are now digging deeper if these people had something to do with the spate of killings in Cebu,” said Batobalonos.
Arrested
Meanwhile, a total of P2 million worth of illegal drugs were seized from two drug suspects in another drug bust in Barangay Linao, still in Talisay City, on Saturday morning.
The suspects were identified as Jovanie Cabrillos, 28, and his live-in partner Shiera Mae Abatayo, 27, who were both arrested inside their residence.
According to Batobalonos, the operation was the result of two weeks of surveillance.
The operation was conducted by the operatives of the Provincial Intelligence Branch together with the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit of the Cebu Provincial Police Office.
The suspects are now detained at the Cebu Provincial Police Office stockade pending the filing of charges against them.