Drugs eyed in Caloocan barangay chief’s slay

Police are looking into illegal drugs as a possible motive for the killing of a barangay chairman in Caloocan City by unidentified assailants in Valenzuela on Thursday.

Emmanuel Cruz, chairman of Barangay 79, was with Sunshine Garcia in a Hyundai car (MQ-4452) parked in front of a supermarket along MacArthur Highway in Barangay Malanday when four men on two motorcycles opened fire at around 5 p.m.

Cruz and Garcia died at the scene from gunshots to the body.

Two other barangay officials, Hilda Padayao and Joel delos Reyes, were wounded in the attack.

Padayao and Delos Reyes were rushed to the Valenzuela General Hospital and Allied Care Expert Medical Center, respectively.

Superintendent Rey Medina, Valenzuela assistant police chief, said Cruz and his companions had just stepped out of a burger store when the shooting incident happened.

Sources in the Caloocan police said Cruz was on the city’s drug watchlist and considered a highvalue target.

22 nabbed in drug stings

At least 22 people were arrested in separate anti-drug operations in Metro Manila in the past two days.

Twenty of the drug suspects were collared in Quezon City.

Police identified some of them as Brenda Almoguera, 39; Dennis Deudor, 38; Marnie Gonzales, 40; Carmina Morales; Arturo Alcantara; Glenn Gerald Dacanay, 31; Arnel Pulido, 33; Alexander Osma, 48; Catherine David, 28; John Christian Carao, 21; Ruel Tabong, 45; Madeline Gatoc, 51; Rodolfo Danan, 44; JM Colico, 26; Jesielyn Espaton, 21; Joselito Ayes, 38, and Rogelio Bautista, 47.

The suspects were rounded up in Barangays Soccorro, UP Campus, Sikatuna, Pansol, Sauyo, San Bartolome, Sta. Monica, Kaligayahan and Bagbag.

They allegedly yielded shabu and drug paraphernalia.

In San Juan, two suspected drug pushers were apprehended in a sting yesterday.

Eduardo Cruz, alias Eddie Boy, 32, and Rosela Ramos, 33, were collared by anti-narcotics agents headed by Inspector Edwin Malabanan of the Station Drug Enforcement Unit.

Malabanan tagged Cruz and Ramos as the alleged suppliers of illegal drugs in Barangay Little Baguio.

The two were caught after they allegedly sold P300 worth of shabu to a police officer who posed as a buyer.

The suspects are being held by police on charges of violating Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. –