PRO-7 firm Sabalones was the one killed in QC

CEBU, Philippines — The Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 has reasons to believe that it was self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones who was killed by an unknown assailant last Maundy Thursday.

However, PRO-7 Chief Debold Sinas said they are not one hundred percent sure that it was really Sabalones, since there was no scientific evidence to prove it yet.

Earlier, Police Major Elmer Monsalve, chief of the Criminal Investigation Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), had claimed that the fatality was Sabalones as identified by the victim’s cousin Joselito Cabilao.

Sabalones was reportedly on his way to a billiard game with his friends in Barangay South Triangle, Quezon City.

When he alighted from his Grey Ford Ranger at around 12:08 a.m. at corner Scout Borromeo and Mother Ignacia Streets, he was shot by an unidentified gunman.

They did not immediately recognize him as he had several ID cards bearing different names.

These names include Jerome G. Cabilao, Jerome Sanchez Cabilao, Abdulyakin Tating Limpasan, and resident of Calle Zaragosa Castillo Classic, BF Resort Village, Talon Dos, Las Piñas City.

Sinas said they are coordinating with the QCPD investigating team by sharing case files.

If it was really Sabalones, then it could have a positive effect in PRO-7’s campaign against illegal drugs, Sinas said.

He added the downliners from Sabalones’ drug ring, which was reportedly regrouped because of the elections, may be impacted in the absence of their leader.

Sinas said it will be high-time for their intelligence team to also figure out who may replace Sabalones and what will be the realignment or direction the drug group may take.

“Dako na epekto ang iya pagkawala (in the illegal-drug scene in Cebu) since mo dip-down ang drugs, naa realignment. We are interested in case naa pud mopuli,” he said.

Sinas explained that Sabalones is a wanted man in Cebu, but not for drugs. He is wanted for possession of loose firearm, following a raid in his live-in-partner’s house last March 2 in a subdivision in Minglanilla, Cebu.

He said that although Sabalones confessed on 2016, during the onslaught of President Rodrigo Duterte’s threats to kill drug lords if they do not yield, the admission was not admissible in court.

He said the Philippine National Police conducted case build-up ever since he was released, but the update on cases related to his confession was not clear.

Sinas did not comment after he was asked if they had monitored Sabalones being in Manila before his death.

“Yung naa sa mga top echelon bihira na madakpan, kay na na man connection. When he confessed, wala nagamit. Pero he is wanted and naa warrant of arrest nahatag pud sa police stations in Manila,” he said. (FREEMAN)