2 drug suspects slain in anti-drug ops in North Cotabato

PIKIT, North Cotabato—Two drug suspects were killed after they reportedly traded shots with police conducting anti-drug operation in Barangay Batulawan in Pikit town before dawn on Saturday, police said.

The incident took place after authorities were accused of extra-judicially killing two drug suspects in nearby Kabacan town earlier this week.

Three others were arrested during the 3 a.m. anti-drug raid in two houses in Batulawan, according to Superintendent Bernard Tayong, who was speaking for the North Cotabato police.

He said joint elements of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU), backed by soldiers, were to serve four search warrants against drug personalities here for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 and illegal possession of firearms.

But Tayong said as the soldiers were approaching one of the four houses in Batulawan, five men were seen fleeing as they fired at the lawmen using hand guns.

This, he said, led to a running gun battle until two suspects fell to the ground due to injuries while three others surrendered. The two injured gunmen were rushed to a hospital in Barangay Poblacion here but were pronounced dead on arrival.

Tayong identified the slain suspects as Andamen Sapalon, 40, and his brother, Pisko Kanda Sapalon, 30, both residents of the village.

Tayong said Sapalon was the leader of a local group engaged in illegal drug peddling. Arrested were Baina Taudin, Samer Samad and Johaina Labarios.

The raiding team, he said, also recovered guns and suspected shabu from the suspects.

On Tuesday, two men were also killed in Kabacan town after they allegedly traded shots with police officers conducting an anti-drugs operation.

But the wives of the victims said it was a rub out.

Amira Baliwan said she was surprised when armed men barged inside their house in Barangay Aringay here around 3 a.m. Tuesday, shoved her out of the door and shot her husband, Sindatuk, dead.

In the neighboring house owned by the Mangakoy family, shots were also heard and Jonathan, a member of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT), also lay dead.

“Once inside the house, the police pushed me away from my husband and they shot him,” Mangakoy’s wife, who declined to be named, said.

Amira also narrated a similar story.

She said she and Sindatuk were asleep when the armed men, who later turned out to be policemen, barged in.

Like Mangakoy’s wife, Amira said she was violently pushed out of the room where she and Sindatuk were sleeping.

As soon as she was out of the room, Amira said shots rang.

Her husband was killed, she said in between tears.

Chief Insp. Lorenzo Henares, who headed the local police-based operatives of the Central Mindanao Regional Police Anti-Drug Unit (RPDU), said the two men were killed because they traded shots with the police.

Henares said they were serving search warrants, issued by a local court in Kidapawan City against Mangakoy and Baliwan for violation of RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition – but the two men violently resisted and fired at law enforces.

None of the members of the raiding team was hit though and the two men died from bullet wounds in the head and chest, he said.

Another suspect was also arrested, Henares said.

He also said recovered from the two houses in the aftermath of the raid were a pistol, a shotgun, and a hand grenade.

“And then they said my husband resisted, that is not true,” Mangakoy’s wife said.

“He was killed in cold blood,” Amira said of her husband.

The widows said they were bent on suing the policemen and were seeking help from the Public Attorneys Office as they could not afford the services of private prosecutors.

Henares said he respected the wives’ claims and that his team was willing to face the charges that would be filed against them.