THREE drug suspects died in a shootout with police in Danao City even as militant groups will set up streamers and human-sized dolls at the skywalks of Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City to denounce the continued killings of drug suspects today.
Police said Wilfredo Quimbo, Jerome Austria and Benjamin Pepito engaged the police in a shootout after they were caught in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Pag-Utlan, Barangay Maslog in Danao City at midnight Sunday.
Aside from P300,000 worth of drugs and the P200 marked money, police also took from Quimbo one loaded .45 pistol and one cell phone.
Taken from Austria and Pepito were one .357 revolver and one .38 revolver respectively.
All three men were in the Danao City police’s drug watch list and they didn’t surrender to police during their Oplan TokHang campaign.
Their deaths came amid today’s planned protest action by local militant groups like Sanlakas-Cebu that’s timed with the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Teody Navea, Sanlakas-Cebu secretary general, told Cebu Daily News that they are protesting against the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects.
Navea said it may victimize those who are innocent of the crimes they were killed for.
“We are even against death penalty,” he said.
At 10 a.m. today, the Sanlakas- Cebu will hang streamers at the skywalks near Fuente Osmeña and Social Security System (SSS).
Three human-sized dolls will also be hung at the two skywalks to symbolize their opposition to extrajudicial killings and the death penalty.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is on heightened alert for any rally and untoward incident that may happen today during the President’s SONA.