CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – A drug suspect and her brother-in-law were gunned down in in Talavera, Nueva Ecija on Friday afternoon.
Senior Superintendent Manuel Cornel, provincial police director, identified the fatalities as Sheryl Santos, 31, and Pedro Santos, 45.
Sheryl died at the scene while Pedro died while being treated in a hospital.
Probers said Sheryl and her three children were in a tricycle driven by Pedro when a red car with no plate number blocked their path.
The assailants ordered the victims to lie face down on the ground and shot Sheryl and Pedro in the head.
Police Officer 3 Marvin Verde said Sheryl was on the drug watchlist of the Talavera police.
Village exec nabbed
Meanwhile, a village councilor in Abra was arrested in a drug sting on Wednesday.
Jimmy Binehas of Barangay Cabaroan in Dolores town was collared while allegedly selling a sachet of shabu to an undercover agent.
Police said Binehas is on the list of drug suspects in Abra.
In Cagayan, the fourth top drug suspect, Michael Maribbay, was discovered missing from his detention cell on Friday.
Maribbay was reportedly allowed by a certain Rey Alexis Abig, a provincial government employee, to leave the provincial jail on May 20 without authority from jail warden Perfecto Santos, said Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Olay, Cagayan police director.
Cagayan governor-elect Manuel Mamba said he would order an investigation into the case.
“I will not allow the provincial jail to take custody of high-profile criminals. It’s within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology whose personnel are more trained and competent,” Mamba said. – Manny Galvez, Raymund Catindig, Artemio Dumlao