It’s a painful lesson and one that the Cebu police need to keep in mind if they want to spare their people from being killed in the line of duty, like what happened in the recent Moalboal town drug raid.
“Let us do it at daytime and let us take the necessary precaution. That should have been a good accomplishment on the part of the policemen who conducted the raid if only security precautions and measures were observed,” said Chief Supt. Prudencio Bañas, Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 chief.
There were seven police personnel and two civilians who went to barangay Tomonoy, Moalboal which is located more than 80 kilometers away from Cebu City.
The shanty where a shabu session was held at the time of the raid was grassy and muddy, a perfect if somewhat backward spot for those wishing to escape the police.
The two police officers who were left as lookouts, PO3 Fabio Fernandez and PO1 Alrasid Jimlani, may have never anticipated that there were people visiting the shanty either to buy drugs or join in the drug session. Worse, they probably didn’t expect that they were armed.
Bañas was said to have mentioned that more policemen should have been assigned to cover the seven policemen who took part in the night raid. High-powered firearms would have been overkill, but the presence of more police officers would have served as a deterrent against the motorcycle-riding visitors, who thought nothing of shooting down Fernandez and Jimlani.
True, drug addicts feel like Supermen when they’re on a high. But they won’t prove quite a threat when ranged against a contingent unless they’re armed to the teeth, which wasn’t likely the case because it was reported that Fernandez’s service firearm was stolen.
What was suspected was that the people who shot Fernandez and Jimlani were guns-for-hire. If raids were limited to daytime, the criminals would adjust accordingly and hold their illegal activities at night.
What happened on that Nov. 14 evening drug raid in Moalboal was simply a case of underestimating the cunning, resources and people of the target, level two drug pusher Michael Aquino.
Yes, one of the four men who escaped from the shanty – Eric Lendio – surrendered to the police, but the other three men and Aquino remain scot-free and ready to start elsewhere.
Boljoon police chief Insp. Dexter Basirgo managed to survive being shot after leading his team to a raid in a mountain barangay. His survival and the deaths of the two policemen in Moalboal is a stark reminder that these drug pushers and traffickers mean business and they won’t stop in their lucrative trade which is moving out of the urban areas where they can be better dealt with.
Whether it be more people, more guns or better strategies, the Cebu provincial police should catch these drug traffickers and throw them in jail.