2 dead as drug war rages in Manila’s lantern-lit slums

Two men were killed and two others arrested in separate antidrug operations in Manila over the weekend.

Delfin Sicson, 59, became the latest fatality in the government’s war against illegal drugs when he sustained two gunshot wounds in the chest after being shot by P01 Joey Ganap.  Ganap posed as a buyer in the buy-bust operation conducted on Oro-B. St., Sta. Ana, early morning of Friday.

In Kahilum 3, Pandacan, Roger Barsena, alias Rex, was shot by police operatives when he allegedly fought back and resisted arrest past midnight of Friday.

Residents would later see his body being carried out in a narrow alley illuminated by Christmas lanterns.

Earlier in the day,  Renmark Domanais, 26, and pedicab driver Abenigo Verdida, 46, were arrested after they sold a sachet of suspected ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) to an undercover police officer on Mirasol St. in Balut, Tondo.

Case investigator P03 Ryan Jay Balagtas, said the Sta. Ana operation was conducted based on information provided by a “regular confidential informant.”

Balagtas said Sicson  pulled out a gun and pointed it at Ganap after sensing that the latter was a police officer.   “(Ganap sensed) imminent and actual danger to his life,” the case investigator said, adding that the cop “had no other recourse but to shoot and neutralize his armed aggressor.”

Sicson, who was also known by the alias ‘Ompong,’ was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead by Dr. Glenda Ocampo at 2:38 a.m. of Friday.

Shabu sachets

In Balut, Tondo, two suspects were arrested in a buy-bust operation and yielded six sachets containing suspected shabu worth P3,000, according to station commander Supt. Robert Domingo.

Domingo said charges will be filed against Domanais and Verdida for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.  The shabu sachets confiscated from them were brought to the Manila Police District’s Crime Laboratory for examination, the station commander added.

Latest reports have indicated that more than 4,000 alleged drug users and pushers have become casualties in the government’s relentless antidrugs campaign.

Police have said that most of the casualties had fought back and resisted arrest.

Despite the rising body count, the latest Social Weather Stations survey showed that Mr. Duterte got a “very good” net satisfaction rating that, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said, showed the public’s “continuous strong support for the President” amid the spiraling drug killings in the country.