AN alleged drug peddler was found dead with his hands and feet tied in Barangay Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City Wednesday night.
An identification card found on the body said he was Jonathan Maata, 37, of Sitio Matumbo in Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu.
Placed beside his body was a cardboard that read: “Pusher ko. Ayaw ko sunda (I’m a drug pusher. Do not be like me).”
Before Maata’s body was found, residents heard gunshots past 9 p.m.
A policeman assigned at the Police Station 2 called the Homicide Section about the shooting in Mactan.
When homicide police from Lapu-Lapu arrived in Sitio Bagong Silangan at 9:34 p.m., they found Maata on the ground, hogtied with plastic cable wire.
Maata was in white t-shirt and jeans.
He bore four gunshot wounds in the left side of his face.
According to PO3 Joseph Rouel Cutanda, the investigator of the case, six sachets of what may be shabu and a tin foil strip was found in the left front pocket of Maata’s jeans.
In Cutanda’s initial investigation, Maata was identified as one of the subjects of Operation Tokhang of Lapu-Lapu Police Station 5, but he did not surrender.
SPO2 Allan Pantaleon of the Homicide Section said Maata was known to peddle drugs and was listed in Station 5’s drug watch list.
Authorities said they will work on identifying Maata’s killers.