POLICE sent a team to Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City on Tuesday to secure the community after the body of suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz arrived in his compound at dawn.
Another team, a special investigation task force, was created to track down his real estate properties and other wealth.
Four days after a shootout with the police ended Diaz’s life, the region’s top police official said the authorities would welcome any investigation on the operation.
Diaz died with his bodyguard in a shootout with a team from the Regional Intelligence Division-Regional Special Operations Group of the Police Regional Office 7 last Friday night in Las Piñas.
“We do not discourage them. We encourage them to investigate,” said Chief Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., who earlier said the operation was legitimate.
A platoon from the Regional Public Safety Battalion, usually composed of eight operatives, will secure Diaz’s community.
At 1:45 a.m. yesterday, three armed men opened fire at a massage parlor beside the barangay hall of Duljo Fatima. Comendador ordered the Cebu City Police Station to investigate.
Comendador said they are also conducting an inquiry on a retired police officer who was said to have been a bodyguard of Diaz as well.
“There will be corresponding actions,” he said.
Since May 10, a day after the elections, at least 15 drug personalities in Central Visayas have been killed in shootouts. They included alleged drug lords Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria in Banacon islet, Getafe, Bohol and David Anunciado in Inabanga, Bohol.
Reporters covering the police beat went to Diaz’s residence past 9 a.m. yesterday, but the gate was closed and no one was allowed inside.
A reporter from Bombo Radyo, Mjan Tirador, had entered the compound at 5:45 a.m. but someone from Diaz’s household told her they were still grieving and requested the public to respect them.
When asked if they knew Diaz, some residents living near the compound said they did not know him.
As for the strafing, PO2 Jonathan Baquiner of Mambaling Police Station said they recovered empty shells in the massage parlor, whose owner the investigators still have to identify.
Three bullet holes were seen on the glass panel and signage of the establishment.
A witness told Sun.Star Superbalita that two of the men who fired the shots shared a motorcycle, while the other was on another motorcycle all by himself. They covered their faces.
One of the culprits reportedly shouted, “Bawos, bawos lang!” Then the two motorcycles sped off toward Tupas St.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility that the barangay hall was the target, but the perpetrators missed.
The incident happened after the tanods had left the barangay hall to conduct a patrol.
Meanwhile, the PNP created Task Force Diaz to track down Diaz’s properties and coordinate with the Anti-Money Laundering Council in identifying his accounts. They will be headed by a police superintendent who is also a lawyer, said Comendador.
Speaking during the 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza, Comendador said that if the several houses Diaz owned can be seized and forfeited in favor of the government, these can be used as rehabilitation centers.
Comendador reiterated his statement that Diaz owned several houses and buildings in Cebu and Metro Manila.