JAGUAR’S HOUSE: Members of the Cebu media are barred from entering the walled compound of the Diaz family where the remains of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz are believed to have been brought after arriving early on Tuesday from Las Piñas City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The remains of erstwhile elusive drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz arrived in Cebu City at around 1 a.m. Tuesday, still shrouded in mystery.
The body was brought by members of his family directly to his private compound in Barangay Duljo-Fatima. The public would never have a chance to know exactly how he looked like since viewing has been off limits to members of the media and other individuals not known to the family.
The steel gate of his residence was kept closed while residents were tight-lipped over Jaguar’s death.
A neighbor, who refused to be identified, requested journalists to respect the privacy of Jaguar’s family.
He said close friends and relatives wanted to spend time with Jaguar before the latter would be laid to rest at an unspecified date.
“Let’s leave it at that for now,” he told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.
Jaguar’s compound is located about 100 meters away from Spolarium Street in the heart of Duljo-Fatima, the place where he grew up. It is secured by several meters-high red-painted concrete fences and flanked by shanties, sari-sari stores and a few bungalow houses.
At around 1:45 a.m. yesterday, less than an hour after Jaguar’s dead body arrived home, three unidentified men on board a motorcycle peppered with bullets a massage parlor, a branch of the Nuat Thai Foot and Body Massage, along Spolarium Street, said to be owned by Jaguar.
No one was hurt in the incident since the establishment was closed when the incident happened.
The establishment is located beside the barangay hall and only about 500 meters from Jaguar’s compound, but people in the area were mum about the incident, said SPO4 Rolando Manalili of the Mambaling Police Station.
“We have no witnesses for now,” he said.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director Senior Supt. Benjamin Santos Jr. said they received reports that the Nuat Thai massage parlor in Barangay
Duljo-Fatima was owned by Jaguar. “But that information still needs verification. I asked my men to look at the business permit to be sure,” he told CDN.
The massage parlor was closed when CDN went to the area yesterday.
Last Saturday, a pension house owned by Jaguar’s mother in Talisay City was also strafed by two men on board a black motorcycle.
Police said the name appearing on the permit of Gau Pension House located along Mansueto Drive in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City was that of Jaguar’s mother, Gaudiosa Diaz, whose whereabouts is now unknown.
Jaguar’s neighbors in Barangay Duljo-Fatima had a common response when asked about the suspected drug lord: “ambot;” “bag-o pa man mi diri;” “wa mi kaila ana niya;” “ang uban lang ang pangutan-a.” (We have no idea; we’re new in this place; we don’t know him; just ask the others.)
One person who was standing outside what was believed to be his house was asked by CDN where was Jaguar’s residence and he responded by saying it was still about a kilometer away, only to find out later that the news team was actually just about 15 steps away from the drug lord’s home.
Trisikad drivers in the place were also mum about Jaguar who was tagged by police as the number one drug personality in Central Visayas.
Jaguar was killed along with his bodyguard, Paul Vincent Igloria, in what the police said was an encounter in Barangay Almanza 1, Las Piñas City, past 10 p.m. on June 17. His death came barely a week since he granted an interview declaring his intention to surrender to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
Half a kilo of shabu were seized from Jaguar, valued at about P1.2 million.
The police were supposed to go after Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, the top drug personality in Cebu province and one of the suspects in the slay of Senior Insp. Jonas Tahanlangit, police chief of San Francisco town, Camotes Group of Islands last April 2016. But Barok managed to escape before the shootout that led to Jaguar’s death./with UP Intern Amy A. Macalinao