‘Morally convinced’: Pasay cops claim 5 drug slays solved

The Pasay City police have pinned five cases of drug-related killings on two still unidentified motorcycle-riding men who were shot dead when they evaded a police checkout in August.

Based on a report submitted to the Southern Police District by the Pasay police chief, Senior Supt. Nolasco Bathan, the bullets in the guns found in the suspects’ possession matched those taken from the five crime scenes.

Mind of the public

“This office is morally convinced that these two riding criminals and their unidentified cohorts are responsible for the series of shooting incidents in Pasay City,” Bathan said in his report dated Oct. 18.

According to him, the suspects “tried to insinuate in the mind of the public that all the unlawful killings in Pasay City were the product of [the] unyielding drive of the PNP organization to eradicate drug personalities and criminals by all means,” he added.

Woman’s photo

Aside from the guns, the two dead suspects were also carrying a woman’s photo, a sketch showing a location, a sachet of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and a placard with the message “Tulak ako wag tularan (I’m a drug pusher, don’t be like me).”

Also recovered was their motorcycle which turned out to have been stolen.

Both men were killed in a shoot-out after they tried to evade a police checkpoint on BAC 1-11, Don Carlos Village, Barangay 190, Zone 20, pastmidnight of Aug. 12.

The woman in the photo was later identified as a drug suspect who had surrendered under the government’s “Oplan Tokhang.” A complainant also identified the slain suspects as the ones who took his motorcycle the night before they were killed, the police said.

A .45-cal. Medallion pistol with serial no. 1103017 was recovered from the first suspect who was wearing a bonnet and estimated to be between 40 and 45 years old.

Matching bullets

A cross-matching test showed that the bullets from the gun matched those in the cases of Genaro Tizon, 57, killed in Barangay 191 on July 26;  Arturo Custodio, 35, killed in Barangay 195 on Aug. 2; and Crispin Torres, 45, killed in Barangay 198 on Aug. 8. Gunned down by motorcycle-riding men, they were found with placards labeling them as drug pushers or users.

The second suspect, around 30 to 35 years old, was carrying a .45-cal. Norinco pistol with the serial number scratched out. But its bullets matched those in the cases of Ryan Alfred Esquivel, 33, killed in Barangay 21 on July 23; and Reynaldo Baculo, 22, killed in Barangay 38 on July 13. Both were also accused of being involved in drugs with Esquivel also tagged as a thief.

According to the Pasay police, they consider resolved the five cases “perpetrated by riding criminals who take advantage of the relentless drive of the Philippine National Police against illegal drugs.”

They also maintained that they would not engage in vigilantism and would uphold the rule of law.