War on drugs, crime leaves 8 dead

THE DEATH toll in the administration’s war on drugs and crime continues to rise in Manila.

As of Sunday, eight more deaths—four in alleged shootouts and four through “salvagings” or summary execution— have been reported.

One of the victims were Marvin Samonte of Apex Compound in Parola, Tondo, who was shot thrice by  PO1 Eugene Langcay inside his house.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Langcay said Samonte tried to shoot him with a .45-cal.  gun, “that’s why I shot him first.”

Samonte’s sister-in-law, Pia, admitted that he was a drug pusher although she scoffed at the policeman’s claim.  “I don’t know where and how he got that gun. He couldn’t even afford to buy food,” she said.

When the Inquirer went to the crime scene, both of the victim’s hands were stained with blood but the gun that supposedly belonged to him had no blood stains at all.

Three sachets of marijuana and a sachet of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) were found beside him.

Meanwhile, policemen from Abad Santos, Baseco and Raxabago in Tondo, three of the poorest areas in Manila, also “sensed” danger when they killed Sany Laglario, Rommel Navarro and Jonathan Narag in separate operations.

Navarro was killed in a drug bust on Almario Street in Tondo after the group of Insp. Loreto Tigno of the Abad Santos police saw him as a threat to their lives. Three gunshots killed him. Cash, shabu and drug paraphernalia were allegedly retrieved from him.

Three gunshots also killed Laglario in Baseco, also after Ermita policemen who have jurisdiction over the place “sensed” he would fight back. A .45-cal. gun, shabu and cash were seized from him about 4:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Narag was shot dead on Friday in Raxabago, also after he fired at policemen.

Marvin del Barrio was also killed by two men who went after him in his partially demolished shanty on Canonigo Bridge at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Found on his body was a cardboard with  “Snatcher, holdup man, pusher don’t emulate” written on it.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three unidentified men were found on Elcano Street in Binondo, Lerma Street in Sampaloc and in front of Estaban Abada High School on Saturday. Their assailants remain unknown.