Hunt on for 2 drug pushers tagged in Rizal massacre
MANILA, Philippines–A police official on Tuesday confirmed they were pursuing two “small-time drug suppliers” believed to have been behind the shooting rampage that killed seven people in a shanty in Rodriguez, Rizal early Monday morning.
Senior Superintendent Rolando Anduyan, Rizal police chief, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone that based on information they gathered, the two suspects supplied Webb Santos, 40, with the illegal substances, including methamphetamine hydrochloride.
The police official declined to give names and other details to avoid hampering ongoing follow-up operations.
Santos, who was on the municipality’s drug watchlist when he died, would then pay for the merchandise much later, Anduyan said.
“It’s not like your big-time illegal drug trade. In street drugs trade like this, you can get the merchandise (“utangin”) then pay later. But Santos did not pay up [on the agreed upon time],” Anduyan said, citing information given by residents.
The “unpaid drugs,” the police official said, was worth around P5,000.
Asked what became of the two other alleged lookouts in the crime, Anduyan said that that may have been misinformation given to the police.
“It was dark at that time,” he said, adding that judging by the leads the police had gathered, there were only two men, not four as earlier reported to the media, responsible for the attack.
Asked about the backgrounds of the two suspects, Anduyan at first refused to give any comment.
When pressed, however, he confirmed that they were not first-time drug suppliers and were already notorious as far as the police and local residents were concerned.
Anduyan was quick to add, however, that they were still checking whether the two had been convicted in court of drug-related charges.
Early Tuesday morning, Anduyan said they checked on all possible areas the two suspects might have gone, but to no avail.
“If we don’t get them within the day, we’ll file the charges against them in court and wait for the warrant of arrest,” he said.
Meanwhile, lab tests conducted on the seven victims-Santos; his wife Alma, 35; Joshua Tuazon, 16; Judy Ann Severo, 16; John Michael Gardose, 18; Roberto Talagtag, 18; and Darmo Rivera, 20— showed they were positive for shabu.
Anduyan said this meant that the seven were having a “shabu session” at the time of the attack.
Jaime Gardose, the father of one of the victims, however, refused to believe this.
At his son John Michael’s wake in his house in Suburban Village, he told the INQUIRER that he was a “good kid.”
“No, he wasn’t using drugs. He only went to his cousin’s birthday party, nothing more,” he said.
He added that John Michael would be buried at the San Isidro cemetery on Sunday.
