A day after the inauguration of President Duterte, who had sought the death of organized criminals either through the return of capital punishment or shoot-to-kill orders against those who would resist arrest, the Caloocan City police apparently went into action along those lines.
A man tagged as one of the top drug peddlers in the city and a dismissed policeman who allegedly served as his “bodyguard” were shot dead in what local authorities said was a brief gunbattle Friday night, the local police chief said.
Senior Supt. Bartolome Bustamante said Elmer Nicdao and former PO1 Aljen Gabing Jaquines were killed on the spot by his men in Bagong Silang around 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
According to Bustamante, a six-man team headed by Insp. Bernard Pagaduan went to the village to conduct surveillance operations following a tip from an informant that a cache of drugs would be dropped off at Block 159.
“But when our men got there, Jaquines, who arrived together with Nicdao, recognized the policemen and immediately fired at the group,” Bustamante said on Saturday.
He said Jaquines and Nicdao fired shots from a shanty, where they tried to hide, and the policemen retaliated and hit both of them.
An improvised shotgun and 10 grams of suspected “shabu,” with an estimated street value of P50,000, were recovered from Nicdao, a resident of Barangay 176 and who was considered the “No. 1 drug personality” or suspect in northern Caloocan.
“We have a police hotline where people can complain and the name Nicdao cropped up in many of the messages we got. For street-level (drug) pushing, (10 grams) is already a big amount,” Bustamante said.
A .38-cal. pistol with three live rounds and two fired cartridges, and a sachet of suspected shabu worth P1,000, were retrieved from Jaquines, whom Bustamante described as Nicdao’s bodyguard.
Pagaduan’s team realized they had killed a former officer only when they found a Philippine National Police ID on the body. Jaquines was later confirmed to be a resident of Dagat-dagatan, Malabon City, who used to be assigned to Northern Police District’s Public Safety Batallion.
Bustamante said Jaquines was dismissed for absenteeism over a year ago.