Anti-drugs death toll in 3 weeks: 41 dead in Bulacan

CITY OF MALOLOS—Forty-one drug suspects have been killed in police operations in Bulacan since May 8 when Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna assumed his post as the province’s police director.

On May 30 and 31, 13 people were killed during simultaneous anticrime operations. Two of them, identified as Jessie Vasquez and Benjamin Sarmiento, fought back and were killed after drug busts in Malolos, police said.

Seized from Vasquez were eight sachets of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth), two sachets filled with marijuana and a caliber .22 revolver.

‘Pilay’

In San Rafael town, a drug suspect, identified only as “Pilay,” was killed after police said he fired at undercover agents who were buying nine sachets of shabu from him.

In Bocaue town, one Jeffrey Santiago was killed after police said he shot it out with lawmen.

Seized from him were nine sachets of shabu. An unidentified man was shot and killed in a gunfight with policemen in Pulilan town.

All the slain suspects initiated the gunfight after they realized they were dealing with undercover policemen, Bersaluna said.

Record kills

Police also said two other suspects were killed on May 28, four on May 27, two on May 26, five on May 24, two on May 22, two on May 21, two on May 18, three on May 16 and May 17, one on May 15, two on May 13, two on May 12 and one on May 11.

Bersaluna replaced Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr., whose stint as police chief was marked with a record 32 drug suspects killed in gunfights with the police on Aug. 15 in Bulacan towns and cities.

Critics of President Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs called on police to investigate and solve thousands of deaths of drug suspects believed to have been executed summarily.

But police said killings of drug suspects through street executions and not through police operations were being verified. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE