THE year 2018 saw the deaths of public officials, activists, police officers and suspected drug pushers in Cebu and Central Visayas.
Operatives of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 and its other units seized more than 48 kilos of shabu worth over P331 million from Dec. 5, 2017 until Dec. 29, 2018.
Police caught 9,396 drug personalities in 6,470 operations in Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor. They also uprooted 286 kilos of marijuana plants and seized 23 Ecstasy tablets this year.
As of Dec. 18, 80 suspected pushers, mostly small-time players, were killed in drug busts. Police recorded 87 deaths in 2017.
PRO 7 Director Debold Sinas said the operations that resulted in 167 deaths in the past 23 months were all legitimate. The pushers, he said, died after they resisted arrest.
The Cebu City anti-narcotics operatives intensified their campaign against illegal drugs in the second half of 2018 resulting in the seizure of P39 million worth of shabu in Barangay Tisa (Nov. 19); P41.8 million in Barangay Sambag 2 (Nov. 30); and P46 million in Barangay Basak Pardo (Dec. 25).
For Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma, she said she was not happy with their accomplishments because it proved that pushers still existed.
“How I wish one day, wala na kaming mahuli kasi nag-change na sila (we don't arrest anyone because they've all turned over a new leaf),” she said.
Garma's counterpart in the province, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Manuel Abrugena, said the efforts of his personnel paid off.
“We have a very good and significant accomplishments this year. We were able to make a big dent on the drug supply and reduction in the province in 2018. The neutralization, arrest of drug personalities, recovery of drugs and firearms from them decreased the capability of the drug groups,” he said.
The possible influx of shabu in Cebu may have come from the magnetic lifters found by anti-narcotics agents in Luzon, according to Sinas.
Four magnetic lifters believed to have contained tons of illegal drugs worth P6.8 billion slipped past the Bureau of Customs. These were later found empty in General Mariano Alvarez town in Cavite last Aug. 9. Dogs detected traces of illegal drugs inside.
The region was also stunned by high-profile killings this year.
In a span of 10 months, unknown assassins gunned down Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab (Feb. 19); his uncle Ronda Mayor Mariano Blanco III (Sept. 5); Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 operatives Baby “Earl” Rallos (July 27) and Von Rian Tecson (Aug. 8); Lagtang Barangay Councilor Art Stephen Bas (July 20); and his father, former Lagtang barangay captain Marc Ferdinand Bas (Oct. 8).
Last Oct. 11, Lazi, Siquijor Councilor Domingo Arcamo II was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants.
Activist Tootsie Butch Rosales was shot dead inside a public utility jeepney in Lapu-Lapu City.
Active police officers killed in Central Visayas by unknown assassins in 2018 were PO2 Romeo Jumalon (Dec. 23); Senior Insp. Porferio Gabuya Jr. (Dec. 19); PO3 Micahel Santino Cortes (Oct. 12); PO1 Avita Sarzuelo (July 12); PO2 Melchizedek Batomalaque (June 20); PO3 Jonathan Yaun Tilos (June 13); and PO2 Kenneth Pogoy (April 24). They were reportedly on the list of narco-cops.
Cortes's companions Dennis Patiluna and Jose Soroño and scavenger Cresenciana Rangos died after they were hit by stray bullets.
PO3 Ben Serohijos, a Bohol police officer who had been Awol (Absent Without Official Leave), was shot dead in Cebu City last March 11.
In an anti-narcotics operation in Mandaue City last June 10, Senior Insp. Raymond G. Hortezuela of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office was killed after he reportedly resisted arrest. Last June 27, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña's trusted cop SPO1 Adonis Dumpit was killed in a drug bust in Tagbilaran City.
Osmeña did not believe the police's allegations that Dumpit was involved in illegal drug trade.
Last July 30, PO3 Eugene Calumba was shot dead by William Macaslang, the driver-bodyguard of Osmeña's political ally Tejero Councilor Jessielou Cadungog. Macaslang claimed that he shot Calumba after he saw the latter pull out a gun. Macaslang is facing a homicide case in court, while Cadungog is in hiding.
Sinas denied Calumba of Parian Police Station was a hitman, saying the latter was in Tejero to conduct surveillance on the illegal drug activities in the barangay. Tejero is under the jurisdiction of the Waterfront Police Station.
Police later tagged Cadungog as a narco-politician.
PRO 7 created special investigation task groups (SITGs) to solve the murders.
Supt. Maria Aurora Rayos, the PRO 7 spokesperson, said they have not received any update from the SITGs.
The SITGs on the murders of Tecson, Blanco, Art Stephen and Marc Ferdinand are under the CPPO.
Supt. Janet Rafter, CPPO spokesperson, said the inquiries are ongoing and the cases are not yhet cold files.
“We had our SITG conference weeks ago. The lack of witnesses slows the investigation,” she said.
PDEA 7 Director Wardley Getalla said he trusts the investigators.
“We are still hoping that the case will be resolved. There is a proper authority conducting the investigation, and we are waiting for the progress of the investigation,” he said.
Ungab's widow Pearl earlier said she believed justice would be served in heaven.
Pearl was with Jonnah when the latter was shot by riding-in-tandem assassins while he was driving his car outside the Qimonda Building-Cebu City Hall of Justice last February. Ungab had attended the promulgation of cases faced by his client, self-confessed Eastern Visayas drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr., before the attack happened.
Ungab and Blanco were on the narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte.
However, a relative of Rallos, who requested anonymity, did not expect the killers of the anti-narcotics agent to be caught. Rallos was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assailants in Cebu City last July. Two weeks later, Tecson was ambushed in Barangay Perrelos, Carcar City.
Osmeña mentioned during a press conference the name of SPO1 Roderick Balili as one of Tecson's killers.
Balili, who died in a hospital, was wounded on the same day Tecson was killed.
Sinas denied the police officer was an assassin, saying the latter suffered two gunshot wounds during an accidental firing while his group was conducting surveillance on a drug personality in Pinamungajan.
In earlier interviews, Sinas said he did not set a deadline for the SITGs so investigators would get the right facts, witnesses and suspects.
Last August, the Archdiocese of Cebu issued an oratio imperata, or obligatory prayer, amid a spate of killings in the province.
Five men were massacred in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City last October.
Two persons survived the incident and they accused the police of being the perpetrators. Sinas and Garma denied the allegations.
One of the survivors, a motorcycle-for-hire driver, later retracted his statement, while the female survivor stood by her allegation. She was later brought by the Commission on Human Rights 7 personnel to a sanctuary run by the archdiocese.
A resolution was filed by the minority senators, seeking an investigation on the spate killings in Cebu following the Malubog massacre. The inquiry remains in the shelf.
Last November, CCPO investigators learned that the .45 pistol found near the bodies was issued to JO2 Eran Maquiran of Talisay City Jail.
In Talisay City last July 20, Maquiran and JO3 Clay Gutierrez were transporting three inmates when they were ambushed by at least five men in Barangay Linao.
They were not harmed, but the inmates were killed. The two jail officers' firearms were stolen by the gunmen.
On the same day, Art Stephen was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assassins in Barangay Cansujong.
Rafter said investigators identified the persons of interest, or those persons who may have knowledge behind the murders.
“We are just validating and gathering more information as to their involvement,” she said.
In another operation, the Carbon Police Station's drug bust resulted in a controversy after the death of four-year-old Bladen Skyler Abatayo in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City last July 10. The boy was hit by a stray bullet while he was inside his room.
Police denied the bullet came from one of the misfiring operatives, but the inquiry conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 showed that it did.
Carbon Police Chief John Kareem Escober and PO1s Wilbert Perez and Rey Van Dadula were charged by the NBI 7 before the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (Moleo).
The police officers are facing grave misconduct charges. Separate complaints of falsification by public officer, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice were also filed against Escober.
Another reckless imprudence resulting in homicide complaint was filed against Perez, while a complaint for dereliction of duty was filed against Dadula.
Sinas had defended the Carbon police operatives before the NBI's filing of charges.
Sinas became controversial since several killings took place after his appointment as PRO 7 director last June.
Osmeña accused the police of being involved in some of the killings, which the religious and civil rights groups condemned.
Sinas said the police were not involved in extrajudicial killings.
In his first six months of service in PRO 7, Sinas said police seized 25 kilos of shabu, or 61.7 percent of the 40.5 kilos seized in the last 12 months. Most of the illegal drugs seized came from Cebu City.
Sinas also said that more than 12,000 uniformed personnel of PRO 7 had undergone drug testing. Only seven tested positive, and they are now facing administrative charges.
He said 32 of his personnel were charged for their involvement in the illegal drug trade. Seven officers were found guilty, resulting in their dismissal from the service.
Investigators also resolved the cases of 22 other officers, who await the final decision of the reviewing officers. Only three police officers are facing investigation.
In the internal cleansing campaign of PRO 7, Sinas said 52 of 68 erring police officers had been charged with administrative offenses, 15 were suspended, 10 were dismissed, and 40 are under investigation, including the three officers who were involved in the accidental shooting of Balili.
Sinas said they also received reports that five police applicants were involved in illegal drugs after the identities were published in newspapers and tarpaulins. They were prevented from entering the service.