‘I’m not scared,’drug whistleblower says after brother killed

BACOLOD CITY—The younger brother of a drug bagman, whose confessions led to the filing of charges against and dismissal of several police officers, had been killed in a village here.

Police had initially said the motive for the killing of Wilmar Serenio, 31, was personal grudge, but later said the case could be drug-related.

Wilmar, who was gunned down in the village of Singcang-Airport, was the younger brother of Ricky Serenio, who had confessed to being a bagman for a drug syndicate and delivering drug bribes to several police officers and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation for protection.

As a result of Ricky’s confession, several policemen had been moved out of Negros Occidental province. Ricky announced that he planned to execute a supplemental affidavit naming more officials and individuals in the drug trade.

According to a police report, Wilmar was walking in Purok Sampaguita 1 of Singcang-Airport village when a white Mitsubishi Adventure utility vehicle with no license plate approached. Two men alighted from it and one, with what appeared to be a .45 cal. pistol, fired at Wilmar.

Forensics investigators found six .45 cal. bullet shells and a cap with bloodstains in the crime scene.

Senior Insp. Wilfredo Benoman, police station chief at the village, said investigators had yet to identify the assailants.

“The gunman and his companion were wearing face masks,” Benoman said.

Ricky said he knew the people who killed his brother and pointed to a resident of Pahanocoy, another village in the city.

He said he believed his brother’s killing was an act of revenge by those he hurt in his confessions.

“They cannot scare me,” he said. —CARLA P. GOMEZ