WAR ON DRUGS

CALOOCAN CITY: Two suspected drug personalities were gunned down inside their house by three armed men who posed as policemen in Caloocan City Thursday night. Senior Supt. Chito G. Bersaluna, Caloocan police chief, identified the victims as live-in partners Anacleto dela Cruz, a tricycle driver, and Licel Chua, jobless. Investigation showed that the suspects wearing caps and jackets went to the house of the victims in Barangay 176, Bagong Silang at about 10:30 p.m. The victims were dragged into the house and a few minutes later, gunshots rang out. The suspects fled on board two motorcycles while neighbors called the police who found the victims sprawled lifeless on the floor with multiple bullet wounds. A barangay official told police that the victims were involved in the illegal drugs trade and went into hiding in the province after the government launched the war against drugs. Police are eyeing a botched drug deal as the motive of the killings. (Jel Santos)

MANILA: Three-thousand six-hundred Grades 5 and 6 public elementary school students completed the anti-drug education program called Drug Abuse Resistance Education in Manila yesterday. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said that the students who completed the 10-day program will be instrumental in his administration’s efforts to keep the youth away from drugs. “They will be our front liners, our army of young DARE fighters, who will take the lead in our drug use prevention initiatives,” said Estrada in an interview after the commencement ceremonies at the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate, Manila. “Through them, we will able to reach out to more youth and train and help them in saying ‘No’ to drugs,” he added. Estrada said the graduation of the first batch of DARE beneficiaries “mark an important day in our objective to create a completely drugfree city for the future.”