4 drug suspects killed

MANILA, Philippines - Four suspected drug pushers were killed in separate incidents in the past two days.

Unidentified men wearing masks shot Wilmar Serenio, alias Loklok, in Barangay Singcang Airport in Bacolod City after midnight yesterday.  The assailants fled on a white Mitsubishi Adventure.

Six bullet shells for a caliber .45 pistol were recovered at the scene.

Serenio’s older brother Ricky is a self-confessed member of the Berya drug ring operating in the Negros Island Region.

Ricky had implicated more than 40 policemen in the region in the illegal drug trade.  He was recently arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives as well as grave coercion, but freed on bail.

In a radio interview, Ricky said he knew who were behind the killing of his brother.

In Negros Oriental, former policeman Rey Antonio Saga reportedly resisted arrest and fired at policemen during a sting in Barangay San Jose in Tanjay City on Sunday. 

Police said 11 grams of shabu with an estimated street value of P165,000, a caliber .38 Smith and Wesson revolver, ammunition, P1,000 in marked money and a Honda motorcycle were recovered from the fatality.

An alias Toto was killed when he allegedly drew his gun when he sensed he had sold shabu to undercover agents along Jica highway in Jala-Jala, Rizal at around 2:20 a.m. yesterday.

In Nueva Ecija, Fernando Vendivil, 45, councilman of Barangay Makabalkay in Gapan City, was found dead along the road on Sunday. A sachet of shabu and P13,690 in cash were recovered near his body.

At least 15 other drug suspects were arrested in Batangas, nine in Bulacan and one each in Cabatuan, Isabela; Vintar, Ilocos Norte and Paracale, Camarines Norte on Sunday.

Among those arrested was Ariel Mayuga, who is the most wanted drug suspect in Batangas.

Meanwhile, the police chiefs of Quirino, Burgos, San Pablo, Cabagan and Gamu towns in Isabela, Amulung and Iguig in Cagayan and Nagtipunan in Quirino were relieved from their posts for falling short of their targets in Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded. – Gilbert Bayoran, Ed Amoroso, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Ric Sapnu, Raymund Catindig, Francis Elevado