Cops kill 3 in shootout

CEBU, Philippines - Three suspected criminal elements were killed in a shootout with the joint operatives of the Police Regional Office-7 and the Cebu Provincial Police Office yesterday morning during a simultaneous raid in the towns of Alcoy and Dalaguete.

The police also arrested 10 people, including two barangay councilmen and husband of an incumbent barangay captain in Dalaguete, who are alleged protectors of the criminal elements operating in southern Cebu.

The fatalities were identified as Jojo Gañolon, Jaylhone Mercado, and Lorenzo Coronel. Gañolon is said to be the leader of a gun-for-hire group operating in southern Cebu.

He was previously arrested for drugs but escaped in 2011 while attending a court hearing in Argao.

Gañolon and Mercado were killed by the police in Sitio Lutawan, Barangay Nalhub, Dalaguete after they allegedly fired at the policemen serving a warrant of arrest. Coronel, on the other hand, was killed in Barangay Nug-as, Alcoy after he also tried to shoot it out with the policemen.

Those arrested were identified as Erwin Amandoron, 41, husband of the barangay captain of Nalhub; Vicente Asenjo, 36; Randy Belda, 32; Lucino Quivido, 58; Michael Manriquez, 45, barangay councilman of Jolomaynon, Dalaguete; Hermigildo Capal, 65; Esteban Salonoy, 60; Mario Coronel, 49; Timoteo Amaca, 35, barangay councilman of Nug-as, Alcoy; and Alvin Coronel, 20.

RID-7 chief Senior Supt. Pablo Labra III said there were 11 search warrants issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras that they simultaneously implemented. Four of the subjects were able to elude arrest. They are Jonathan Moran, John Michael Mejares, William Salonoy, and Arnel Bacatan.

Labra said about 100 policemen from the Regional Intelligence Division-7, Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group-7, Provincial Intelligence Branch, and the towns’ police force were involved in yesterday’s operation against the suspected lawless elements in Alcoy and Dalaguete.

CPPO director Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac said the operation stemmed from several complaints received by Governor Hilario Davide III.

According to Gillamac, those who were subject of their operation were involved in drugs, robbery, extortion, and gun-for-hire.

Police operatives seized assorted firearms from the suspects, including two units of KG9 pistol, five .45 caliber pistols, seven .38 caliber revolvers, two .380 caliber revolvers, two fragmentation grenades, several magazines and rounds of ammunition.

The police also recovered a bundle of dried marijuana and several packs of suspected shabu with undetermined value and P15,000 cash.

Gillamac said all firearms confiscated from the suspects will be subjected to ballistic examinations to determine if these were used in previous shooting incidents. Gillamac is confident that the criminal group operating in the southern towns had been crippled with the death of the three suspects and the arrest of 10 others.

PRO-7 director Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas, who was elated by the successful operation, said he believes that the barangay captain of Nalhub, Riza  Amandoron, has personal knowledge in the illegal activities of her husband and nephew.

“Actually yung bahay ng kapitan at yung area na pinagtatago-an ni Jojo, medyo malayo. Nasa bulubundukin ang kanyang hideout. But we will give her the benefit of the doubt,” Banas said.

“We do not want narco-politics in our region. So you better shape up,” he warned the barangay captain.

Meanwhile, five people were arrested in separate buy-bust operations conducted by the police last Friday.

Pablo “Mosloy” Roble Jr., 32, was apprehended by the police in Barangay I, Tuburan Friday afternoon after he personally handed one pack of suspected shabu in exchange for P300 to a policeman who acted as poseur-buyer.

Recovered from the suspect were four small packs of suspected shabu, P300 marked money, and P420 believed to be his proceeds.

Roble is currently detained at Tuburan Police Station.

Rene Boy Bajenting, 38, who lives in Barangay Cansuje, Argao, was also arrested in a buy-bust operation conducted at 6 p.m. last Friday. He was arrested after receiving the P200 marked money from a police poseur-buyer in exchange of one small plastic pack of shabu.

The police were able to confiscate five small packs of suspected shabu, P200 buy-bust money and the motorcycle of Bajenting. The suspect was then brought to Argao Police Station for detention.

In Cebu City, elements of the Parian Police Station also arrested Eric Tenebro, 30; Joeton Deciendo, 25; and Joener Zanudio, 31, for possession of illegal drugs in Barangay Kamagayan.

The patrolling police chanced upon the suspects bringing empty disposable syringe and a broken empty ampoule of nubain. — with Grace Melanie Lacamiento and Decemay Padilla of Banat News/FPL (FREEMAN)