Pelted with rocks, Manila cops kill 3

After arresting nine drug suspects in the slums of Sampaloc, members of the Manila Police District (MPD) were pelted with rocks before they could leave the maze-like neighborhood and ended up killing three other men in a “shoot-out” on Tuesday.

Before the shooting, a buy-bust operation conducted by a four-man MPD team successfully entrapped the nine suspects in the house of Ariel Dulay on Felina Street Extension around 4:15 p.m., according to a report.

Dulay allegedly sold P200-worth of “shabu” to an undercover agent, while the other suspects were caught having a drug session at the house.

But handling the multiple arrests that afternoon was not the only challenge awaiting the team composed of PO2 Allan Escramosa, P02 Juan Paulo Libiano, SPO1 Simon Baltazar and SPO1 Marian Esmas.

As the officers were leading Dulay and the others out of the house, neighbors started throwing rocks at the police team, according to the report filed in the MPD homicide section.

 Three ‘gunmen’ enter scene

Escramosa, Libiano, Baltazar and Esmas “maneuvered” back to Dulay’s house, where they were met with gunfire coming from three men: brothers Arnel and Arnold Pangilinan, and Fernando Taleon.

The Pangilinan siblings and Taleon were killed in the ensuing “gun-battle,” according to the report prepared by SPO2 Joseph Kabigting of MPD homicide, as gathered from the officers involved in the operation.

Fourteen plastic sachets believed to contain shabu were found at Dulay’s house, while three .38-caliber revolvers were recovered from the slain trio.

Also in Manila on Tuesday, another buy-bust operation conducted by the MPD in Sta. Cruz resulted in the death of suspect Lester Cortez.

The suspect allegedly engaged PO1 Angelo Lopez in a shoot-out after the transaction on Guevarra Street. Cortez allegedly used a revolver and was later found carrying four sachets of shabu.

 ‘Tokhang’ surrenderer

In Pasig City, a tricycle driver who recently surrendered to barangay officials under the “Oplan Tokhang” program for drug suspects was shot dead in another vigilante-style attack on Wednesday morning.

Francisco Lontoc, 37, was killed around 2 a.m. at the corner of Urbano Velasco Avenue and Salandanan Street in Barangay Pinagbuhatan by an unidentified gunman on a motorbike, according to a report submitted to Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra Jr., the city police chief.

Yebra said Lontoc was shot while waiting for a passenger.

The Pasig police later tagged Lontoc as one of the alleged drug users and pushers on their watch list in Pinagbuhatan.