277 drug suspects arrested, 7 killed

MANILA, Philippines - At least 277 suspected pushers and users were arrested and seven others were killed in Metro Manila since Wednesday.

The Northern Police District arrested 115 drug suspects – 99 in Caloocan and eight each in Navotas and Valenzuela on Wednesday alone as it ended its three-day One Time, Big Time operation.

Caloocan police chief Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna said 59 more suspects were arrested as of 8 a.m. yesterday.

Eighty persons were rounded up by the Manila Police District and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the One Time, Big Time operation along Arlegui and Globo de Oro street.

An unidentified man was killed in an alleged shootout while intelligence officers held three men in a separate cell “for verification purposes.”

A source said the three men are allegedly members of the Abu Sayyaf who left Marawi City, but officials insisted that the operation was “drug-related and nothing more.”

Drug cop

Among those arrested in a sting in Caloocan on Wednesday night is former Police Officer 1 Michael Narboneta Jr.; his partner Jonalisa Garcia, who is five months pregnant; and alleged runners Jeric Matienzo and Joris May Loria.

Narboneta was dismissed from service for failing the random drug testing in February last year. He is reportedly responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs in Barangay 176.

Monching Fuentes was killed when he and his four companions allegedly tried to ambush police officers responding to reports of drug deals in the same barangay yesterday morning.

His four companions escaped.

In Barangay 172, also in Caloocan, a man identified only as “Nganga” was killed during a raid on his hideout yesterday afternoon. His five companions – Benjardi Aville, Leylan Cabigan, Katherine Ponce, Kyla Degula and Ma. Cecilia Sevillano – were arrested.

In Manila, Paul John Michael Enrera, 28, and Ronnel Langkuyan, 30, were killed in separate stings in Manila before dawn yesterday.

Teody Cruz, 40, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants in Marikina City Wednesday.

In Quezon City, Allan Corpuz, 21, was killed in a sting yesterday while 14 other drug suspects were arrested in anti-drug operations on Wednesday. – With Ghio Ong, Non Alquitran, Emmanuel Tupas