Cops kill brgy councilman, companion in drug bust

ST. BERNARD, SOUTHERN LEYTE, Philippines — A village councilor and his companion were killed by the police in an anti-illegal drugs operation at Barangay Himatagon in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte Friday evening.

Superintendent Harry Sucayre, chief of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Police Regional Office-8, said the suspects, Councilman Juwel Petilla and his companion Jade Yap, fired first prompting the police operatives to defend and fired back, resulting in the deaths of the two.

Sucayre said Petilla, who was no. 2 high-value target in the list of drug personalities, and Yap, a known drug supplier in the area, were in the act of selling drugs to a poseur buyer of the DEU, before the shootout. The two then sensed the presence of policemen, causing them to fire at the operatives triggering the shootout.

Petilla and Yap succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds on their heads and bodies, said Sucayre, adding that at least 700 more high-value targets are still subjects of coming police anti-drug operations. (FREEMAN)