Farmer killed in Southern Leyte buy-bust; police claim shoot-out

MAASIN CITY—A 55-year-old farmer was shot dead on Friday in what the police claimed was a shoot-out following a buy-bust operation in an interior village of Ichon, Macrohon town, in Southern Leyte.

Felimon Labolabo was hit in the right forehead and right arm and died on the spot.

The buy-bust operation stemmed from a two-week surveillance operation on Labolabo who was allegedly a drug peddler.

Senior Insp. J-Rale C. Paalisbo, team leader of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operation Group (RAIDSOG), said an undercover agent met with Labolabo near the latter’s farm in Sitio Santolan, Barangay Ichon, past 9 a.m. supposedly to buy “shabu” from the farmer.

The suspect drew his .38-cal. pistol when he sensed that he was dealing with a policeman, but the farmer was shot first.

Recovered from the crime scene were the gun and four sachets of suspected shabu.

It took four hours to retrieve the body since the crime scene was a secluded and hilly area.

Labolabo’s 18-year-old daughter, Tifanny, fainted after seeing her father’s body.

She said they had told her father to stop peddling drugs after he surrendered to the police during Oplan Tokhang, a campaign that required the police to knock on the houses of known drug peddlers and users and ask them to stop their illegal activities.