Cebu ‘drug dealer’ shot, wounded in attack

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY — A self-confessed drug peddler was in critical condition after he was shot by three unidentified assailants in Barangay Casili, Consolacion town around 7:50 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 19).

Michael Molina, 35, one of the top 10 drug personalities in the municipality, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of the body and has been confined in a local hospital, said PO1 Raymund Llebe of the Consolacion Police Station.

A three-year-old girl was hit by a ricocheting bullet on the right leg.

She was treated at the Eversely Child Sanitarium Hospital in Mandaue City.

Police recovered 11 empty shells of a .55-pistol and two deformed slugs.

Based on police investigation, Molina, a resident of Hilltop, Casili, Consolacion, was standing outside a barbeque stand when he was shot several times by three unidentified persons on board a motorcycle.

A girl, who was standing near the place, was hit by a ricocheting bullet.

Molina earlier admitted that he peddled illegal drugs before he voluntarily surrendered to the police during the implementation of the Oplan Tokhang. Tokhang is a program of the Philippine National Police wherein policemen visit the homes of suspected drug users and pushers and encourage them to cooperate with the government and undergo rehabilitation.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said police investigation of the shooting was still in progress as of Tuesday.

“Our investigators are looking into the case,” he said in a brief text message to the Cebu Daily News.

From July 1 to Aug. 31, eighty-nine suspected drug pushers were killed in police operations in Central Visayas, while 99 others were gunned down by still unidentified assailants.

The Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) is looking into all cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the region — a move welcomed by PRO-7.  SFM