Drug bagman’s ma seeks protection after revenge killings

Ricky Serenio, the confessed bagman who linked at least 40 police officers to the drug trade, accusing the policemen of receiving protection money —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY—The mother of a confessed bagman who implicated dozens of policemen in the drug trade is seeking protection following the killings of her husband and a son in a span of a month.

Gina Serenio asked Senior Supt. Jack Wanky, acting Bacolod police director, for at least two security details for her family after the killings of her husband, Wilfredo, and son, Wilmar.

Serenio said the family feared for their lives as she believed her husband and son were killed in retaliation for the confession made by her other son, Ricky, paymaster of Berya drug group.

Ricky had linked at least 40 policemen in the drug syndicate, saying the officers had been receiving protection money.

One of those implicated was Senior Supt. William Señoron, Negros Occidental police director, who allegedly received P1.2 million monthly from drug lords in the province.

Denial

Señoron, who was relieved from his post, denied the charges and claimed that Serenio was being used by someone who wanted him out of Negros Occidental.

Wilfredo, 53, was shot dead by a lone gunman in Purok Sampaguita 2, Barangay Singcang-Airport in Bacolod City, past 9 p.m. on Monday, a month after his son, Wilmar, was gunned down by still unidentified men.

Gina, 54, said she believed those behind the killing of her husband were also behind the killing of her son.

Gina said suspicious events preceded the killing of her husband. One of these was the cutting off of power in their neighborhood prior to the killing.

Killed at home

The outage forced residents out of their home. She and her grandchildren left home for a convenience store, leaving Wilfredo alone at home.

As they were returning home, Gina said she and her grandchildren heard gunshots. Gina and her grandchildren took cover.

At home, Gina saw her husband bleeding from gunshot wounds in the chest and shoulder.

One of the bullets found its way to Wilfredo’s heart, killing him instantly.

Gina said she thought the gunman had seen her and her grandchildren hiding because he stopped near where they hid.

The driver of the motorcycle used by the gunman had been wearing a helmet but the gunman was not, allowing Gina to recognize him as the same suspect in the killing of her son.

Footage from a security camera at the convenience store caught the killers as they drove past the Serenio house.

Chief Supt. Edmund Gonzales, newly installed Negros Island Region police director, said police were studying all possible motives for the killing of Wilfredo, among them drugs.

Gonzales had assured the family of Serenio there would be no cover-up in the investigation of the killings and that protection would be provided for the family.

Ricky had said the killing of his brother was an act of revenge by those he hurt in his confessions.

“But they cannot scare me,” he had said.