The bullet-riddled car of Neil Benjamin Yap who was ambushed and killed in F. Seno Highway corner E. Rosal Street, Barangay Guizo in Mandaue City on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. | photo courtesy of Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM).
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Investigators are now looking into illegal drugs, particularly the sale and distribution of ecstasy, as one of the possible motives behind the death of Neil Benjamin Yap.
Yap was killed in a noontime ambush at the corner of E. Rosal Street and Seno Highway in Barangay Guizo, Mandaue City on Wednesday, March 6.
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Initial reports from the police showed that the suspects, whose faces were covered in masks and helmets, escaped on board a motorcycle.
Police Colonel Julian Entoma, director of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), said they are looking into the likelihood that somebody wanted to silence Yap, who was included in the matrix of suspected ecstasy suppliers in Cebu.
“Especially nga naay bag-o nadam-ag sa ecstasy (Ashley Abad) basin naay nagdumot niya, dili siya ganahan (mutug-an) sa police. Iyahang involvement sa ecstasy, ato ng tan-awon,” said Entoma.
Ashley Abad, 19, collapsed during a pre-Sinulog party on January 19 this year and died due to an overdose of ecstasy, police said.
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Yap is the second alleged supplier of ecstasy killed in Cebu for 2019.
The other one was Ken Kenneth Rosales who reportedly died in a shootout between arresting officers in Cebu City last February 22.
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Both the names of Yap and Rosales appeared in the matrix of the so-called Ecstasy Ring in Cebu, which was formulated by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA – 7) and Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO – 7).
The person encircled in red in the so-called Ecstasy Ring in Cebu is identified to be Neil Benjamin Yap, who was shot dead at noon of March 6, 2019 in F. Seno Highway corner E. Rosal Street, Barangay Guizo in Mandaue City.| Graphics by Morexette Marie B. Erram
Based on earlier reports published by Cebu Daily News, they, too, were previously arrested for illegal possession of ecstasy.
Entoma said they are now checking documents and other evidences to establish how Yap got out of prison.
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An earlier report published by Cebu Daily News also stated that both Yap and Go were arrested by operatives from the Regional Special Operations Group in Central Visayas (RSOG – 7) in Mandaue City last January 2018. They were accused of trading ecstasy in concerts usually held before the Sinulog Festival.
Go was allegedly one of the two direct contacts of the primary supplier of ecstasy in Cebu whom police described as female and a member of Cebu’s ‘Alta Sociedad’ or a member of the upper-class society.
Go is now detained in Mandaue City Jail. / ###