Drug war claims 5 more in Pasig, Manila, Caloocan

Police antidrug operations in Pasig, Manila and Caloocan City left five suspects dead between Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning.

Four of the fatalities were allegedly drug peddlers who started gunfights with undercover officers posing as buyers. The fifth was considered a drug suspect because packets of “shabu” were supposedly found in his wallet after he was shot dead.

The fatality in Pasig was identified as Randy Abarca, an alleged drug peddler who drew a .38-caliber pistol when he sensed he was dealing with undercover policemen in Barangay Pinagbuhatan shortly past midnight.

Abarca fired at P01 Mark Castillo, who posed as a shabu buyer, during the transaction at the corner of Mulawin Street and Greenwoods Avenue, according to a report submitted to Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, Eastern Police District director.

Castillo, who wore a bulletproof vest, was unharmed despite being hit in the stomach and was able to retaliate with three shots to Abarca’s head and body, according to Senior Insp. Georel Calipusan, head of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Pasig police.

Before the shooting, Abarca was able to sell five sachets of shabu to Castillo, Calipusan said, adding that three more packets were later found in the suspect’s pocket.

Calipusan linked Abarca, who was placed under surveillance for two weeks, to the so-called Makabenta drug dealing group that operates in Pasig and nearby Taytay and Antipolo in Rizal province. The group is reportedly led by Nestor Makabenta, a former drug detainee.

A manhunt is ongoing for the driver of the car that brought Abarca to the site of the transaction, the officer said.

In Manila, buy-bust operations conducted in Sta. Ana and Quiapo added three more to the drug war’s death toll.

Killed in Sta. Ana was Reynaldo Javier, 34, whom the Manila Police District described as a member of the Sputnik Gang. The MPD said a pistol-wielding Javier was shot after firing at P01 Consorcio Pangilinan, the poseur buyer.

At around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, two more drug suspects identified as John Morales, 45, and Jun-jun Bayabas, 44, were killed in a buy-bust operation in Quiapo.

In Caloocan, a man who remained unidentified as of Thursday was shot dead by members of the Police Community Precinct 3 and the Northern Police District’s Public Safety Batallion led by Chief Insp. Ronald Cayago.

Around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities were alerted to the man’s presence in front of a hardware store at Phase 4, Barangay 176, in Bagong Silang. When a team of policemen arrived, the man ran away and entered the house of Luz Garcia in Phase 1, where he allegedly drew a .38-caliber revolver and fired at the pursuing officers.

Cayago returned fire and hit the man thrice, killing him on the spot.

The NPD said a wallet recovered from the man was found containing two sachets of shabu. The suspect was described as 30-35 years old, 4’7” tall and wearing a red sando and brown shorts. —WITH REPORTS FROM CIERYLENE FLORENTO, ROSELLE ANNE SALES