‘Herbert Bautista,’ drug war casualty

“Herbert Bautista” just became a casualty of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

A 31-year-old namesake of the Quezon City mayor was killed Thursday night by the police in Manila, where he allegedly fired a gun at the officers in an antidrug operation.

Incidentally, the suspect was killed a day before the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption filed criminal and administrative charges against Mayor Bautista and his brother Hero, a councilor, over their supposed inaction against the drug menace in Quezon City and over recent revelations that Hero used drugs.

SPO2 Richard Escarlan, the case investigator from the Manila Police District (MPD), said a team from the San Nicolas precinct went to see Herbert Corpuz Bautista, alias “Aso,” on a tip that there was a drug transaction taking place at his house in Area B, Gate 48, Parola Compound, in Binondo around 6:30 p.m.

When the officers arrived, they saw the still-unidentified buyer running away and Bautista going inside his room, where he supposedly reached for the .38-caliber revolver that he used to shoot at them.

The retaliating policemen killed the suspect on the spot. “(He fired) two times. It’s a good thing none of our men was hurt,” Escarlan said.

The MPD said three sachets of suspected “shabu” were also recovered from the suspect, who was described as one of the “drug personalities” on the police watch list in Binondo. TVJ