5 slain in drug war shootings throughout Luzon

MANILA, Philippines — Five persons, two of them drug suspects, were  gunned down in Luzon since Thursday night.

Police said Manuel Pascual engaged anti-narcotics agents in a shootout in Barangay Ramon Cruz, General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite.

Ronald Bunoan, alleged leader of a drug and robbery gang, was shot by unidentified motorcycle-riding men who stormed his house in Barangay Estrella, San Pedro, Laguna.

In Pangasinan, Benjamin Nepuscua, a police officer who went absent without official leave, had just dropped off his children at a school in Barangay Mancup, Calasiao when a man in a gray car opened fire. 

Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan police director, said two  unidentified motorcycle riders, who refused to pull over at a checkpoint in Sitio Maaway, Barangay Camachile, Doña Remedios Trinidad, fired at pursuing law enforcers.

In Isabela, tricycle driver Jayson Domingo was waylaid in Barangay Villa Domingo, Angadanan.

Investigations into the killings are ongoing.

Meanwhile, police said marijuana plants with an estimated value of around P5 million were recovered in a raid on the house of British citizen Simon Stuart McLaren Watson and his partner Rizza Fernandez in Barangay Sto. Tomas, Subic, Zambales yesterday. – Ramon Efren Lazaro, Raymund Catindig, Eva Visperas, Bebot Sison