Cop investigating illegal drug trade and gunrunning in Batangas shot dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Philippines—A member of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Batangas was shot dead in his home town Lemery before noon on Saturday.

Police officer 3 Noel Villalobos, 41, suffered at least seven gunshots in the body, with the most fatal believed to be the gunshot into the victim’s heart, said Chief Inspector Jay Agcaoili, CIDG-Batangas chief.

Quoting eyewitnesses’ accounts, Agcaoili said the victim was at an autoshop in Barangay Lucky at around 11 a.m. when he was shot several times by a lone gunman, who stood only about five meters from the victim.

“(Villalobos) was still able to walk away, about ten meters, before he tripped and fell to the ground. That was when the gunman finished him off (with at least two more shots),” Agcaoili said in a phone interview.

The gunman and another man, believed to be a lookout, escaped on foot, he said.

The police have yet to establish the suspects’ motive but Agcaoili said, “It seemed that the gunman was really angry (because of the number of gunshots fired). It was also very daring (as it happened) during broad day light on a busy street.”

Police sources had earlier said gunrunning and illegal drug trade were rampant in Lemery that unlike in other municipalities, the Regional Mobile Group, which is a team from another special police unit, had to be deployed in the area to augment the local police force.

It was also in Lemery where Batangas police intelligence Chief Supt. Rodney Ramirez was gunned down this year.

“After (Ramirez’s murder), the police conducted a series of raids (against drugs and firearms). Those raids were successful mainly because of Villalobos who was from that town,” Agcaoili said.

Villalobos lived in Barangay Tubuan.

Two days prior to the incident, Villalobos was also part of a police team that served a search warrant against a “big personality” in Lemery, Agcaoili said without elaborating.