‘What shoot-out?,’ relatives of slain drug suspects ask

IN AT LEAST two supposed “buy-bust operations” that resulted in gunfights, the drug pushers who were shot dead did not own guns, their relatives said.

In addition, the police had time to cordon off the area before the gunfire broke out—in one instance with the yellow “police line do not cross” tape—as well as warn residents to stay away from the site where the targets would later meet their fate, they added.

These were the claims made by the neighbors and relatives of the Pangilinan brothers and Paul Lester Lorenzo. All three were drug pushers, admitted their relatives who, however, insisted that their kin who did not own guns were killed in cold blood.

Buy-bust before firefight

On Felina Street Extension—a narrow alley in Sampaloc—last Tuesday afternoon, brothers Arnold and Arnel Pangilinan reportedly died in a joint operation launched by different units of the Manila Police District (MPD). Before the shooting, a buy-bust operation led to the arrest of nine suspects in the house of Ariel Dulay Jr.

The police said that Dulay, a nephew of the Pangilinans, sold P200-worth of “shabu” or methamphetamine hydrochloride to an undercover agent as several people were having a pot session in his house.

Based on the police report, the lawmen were gathering evidence outside the house when people in the thickly-populated neighborhood started throwing stones at them. At this point, the Pangilinan brothers, who had somehow managed to escape arrest by hiding inside Dulay’s house, started shooting at the policemen.

These incidents prompted the police to “maneuver” back inside the maze-like house and engage the brothers, resulting in their death, the report added.

But angry residents who requested anonymity, said the brothers were “killed like animals.”

They added that even before the arrests were made, the police had already isolated Dulay’s house by cordoning off both sides of the alley with a yellow police line. The yellow line is often used to mark the crime scene after, not before an operation.

Targets isolated

Residents admitted that Dulay was taking drugs with his friends when the police arrived at about 4 p.m. and forced everyone out, except for the Pangilinan brothers. Six to eight gunshots were heard after that.

In Pandacan on Wednesday night, Lorenzo Ferrer and his cohort Danny Laurente were killed in a buy-bust operation, according to the police report sent to the MPD’s homicide division.

It was Laurente who allegedly sensed that the people they were dealing with were policemen. Both pulled out .38-caliber pistols and shot it out with the police. They were later found to be carrying 10 sachets of shabu, the report said.

But Aileen, Lorenzo’s live-in partner said that the two men were handcuffed and unarmed.