QC police kill 10, Manila cops add 1 more in drug war toll

Eleven people believed to be involved in drugs were killed in separate shoot-outs with Quezon City and Manila policemen between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Six of the fatalities were killed on the spot in a buy-bust operation conducted by antinarcotics police operatives around 8 p.m. on Wednesday in Barangay Nagkaisang Nayon, Quezon City.

They were identified as Jose Francisco Ledesma, Ronaldo Ceron, Ronnie Bardon, Jonathan Abe, Letecia Paclon and Golber Almero.

According to the Quezon City police, they targeted Ledesma following reports that despite his earlier surrender to authorities, he continued to sell drugs and used his house as a drug den.

During the transaction which was carried out in Ledesma’s house, a shoot-out broke out after the suspects sensed they were dealing with lawmen.

None of the policemen were hurt but all six suspects suffered gunshot wounds. They were brought to the Novaliches District Hospital where they were declared dead on arrival.

Seized from Ledesma’s house were five guns, three plastic sachets of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), lighters and strips of aluminum foil.

Two slain pairs

In another entrapment operation at the Navarro Compound in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City, around midnight yesterday, two drug targets, one identified only as Moy-Moy, were killed in a gunbattle with Batasan policemen.

The policemen were supposed to buy P13,000-worth of shabu but the deal did not push through after the suspects spotted other policemen in the area and opened fire.

At 4 a.m. Thursday, two robbery suspects who were also on the drug watch list of the Masambong police station were killed in a follow-up operation.

The pair had been identified by a woman as the robbers who took her cell phone at gunpoint on Edsa corner Congressional Avenue, Quezon City, on Tuesday.

Suspects Marlon Saren, who has a pending case of robbery, and John Paul Ocdina, the eighth most wanted suspect of the QPCD Station 2, were spotted on Edsa corner Corregidor Street around 4 a.m. Thursday as they were supposedly waiting for another victim.

As policemen approached them, the suspects opened fire, leading to a shoot-out in which both were killed.

Recovered from them were two guns, 17 sachets of shabu, three cell phones and a glass tube containing marijuana leaves.

In Manila, Raymond Alcala died after he shot at Sta. Cruz policemen on Bambang corner Tomas Mapua Streets shortly after midnight Wednesday.

The report of PO2 Dennis Turla of the Manila Police District homicide section said that Alcala was about to sell drugs to undercover policemen when he fired at them.

A shoot-out ensued and Alcala was hit several times. He was rushed to Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center where doctors declared him dead on arrival at 12:25 a.m. yesterday.

Found in his possession were several sachets of shabu and P500 in cash.