LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines – Two still unidentified men shot dead the provincial coordinator of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Camarines Norte while he was cooking in his family’s eatery in Sorsogon City on Saturday afternoon, police said.
Although hit in different parts of the body, PDEA agent-in-charge Arnel Estrellado, according to reports, was able to return fire at his assailants after his son was able to get his handgun from their house.
Bystanders rushed Estrellado to the Sorsogon Doctor’s Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival. His attackers fled on a motorcycle.
Estrellado had been serving as PDEA coordinator in Camarines Norte for only three weeks.
In 2012, Estrellado, who was then the PDEA head in Albay, was wounded in an ambush by motorcycle-riding men after he and his men arrested a suspected drug pusher in Legazpi City. A female bystander was also hit in the attack.