SUSPECT’S FAMILY CRIES FOUL
VICTIM RECENTLY PASSED CRIMINOLOGY EXAMS
A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency team says they had to shoot Niño Rodel Taboada, 28, because he tried to fire first Taboada’s sister says PDEA mistook her innocent brother for another suspect; he was “going to be a police” officer
You just killed the innocent one. You just killed the person who just graduated... you just killed the one who was going to be a police!!! RHOSE-BELLE TABOADA
A man who passed the criminology board exam last year fell in what the authorities said was a shootout last Thursday night in Barangay Duljo Fatima, Cebu City.
A team from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 described Niño Rodel Taboada, 28, as a drug den maintainer and pusher. They said they had to fire at him after he attempted to shoot them with his Magnum .357 revolver at 6:35 p.m. Thursday.
He died after being shot thrice in the body, while five of his alleged companions, including a cousin, were caught. One es- caped.
Some of the evidence seized during the buy-bust were Taboada’s gun and 205 grams of shabu worth P600,000, the PDEA 7 team said.
An intelligence officer, who requested not to be named, said that the suspect was an underling of alleged drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, who was killed in a police operation in Las Piñas City in June last year.
Taboada’s relatives, however, cried that the operatives had mistaken him for a drug pusher. They plan to press charges against PDEA 7.
His sister Rhosebelle posted a message on her Facebook account, saying that her brother was not a pusher but that the PDEA 7 had planned to murder him.
Taboada passed the criminology board exams last year, but Senior Supt. Renato Dugan of PRO 7 said he had not applied to become a police officer after that.
Taboada’s aunt Susan said he was a good man.
He did not keep a gun and was on his way to work in a call center when he was shot.
PDEA 7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz defended the operation, saying it was legitimate. He added they would not shoot a suspected pusher unless he or she attempted to shoot them first.
Taboada’s cousin Kendall, 38; taxi driver Juanito Pescadero, 47; Michael Labra, 47; Riolito Abel- la, 31; and Jun Margate Lasco, 33, were caught in the suspected drug den.
Danilo Rica, Taboada’s alleged cohort, escaped arrest. He ran into an interior portion of the neighborhood.
At 7 p.m., Ruiz said, they conducted another buy-bust in Labangon, Cebu City and captured Ria Mae Flores Iñigo, 26.
Operatives confiscated 100 grams of shabu worth P300,000 from the suspect, who claimed the evidence was planted on her.
“Gidiretso ra man mi’g sulod gabii (They just barged into our house),” she said, adding she was in the living room with her two children.
Iñigo said she made a living by operating a store and lending money to her neighbors. Her livein partner was previously caught for a drug-related charge.
Selling illegal drugs is a non-bailable offense under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.