2 drug suspects, 6 others gunned down
Eight persons, including two drug suspects, were killed in separate incidents on Thursday.
Jessie Marzan, chairman of Barangay Leones West in Tubao, La Union, was standing in front of his house when unidentified men fired at him.
Marzan tried to hide in a store, but the suspects followed him and fired more shots, hitting his partner Myrna de Leon in the stomach. She was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Chief Inspector Silverio Ordinado Jr., La Union police information officer, said Marzan was the most wanted drug suspect in the province.
In Nueva Ecija, a man who has yet to be identified, was killed in an alleged shootout with police manning a checkpoint in Barangay Bucot in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija.
Senior Superintendent Cristopher Yarra, Nueva Ecija police director, said four sachets of shabu and a gun were recovered from the fatality.
Meanwhile, police are investigating if the killing of six men in Cavite, Laguna and Batangas were due to illegal drugs.
Shop welder Jimmy Fajardo and Danilo Ayos were gunned down in Barangay Sabang in Dasmariñas City and Barangay San Agustin in Trece Martires, respectively.
Damaso Amante, whose brother Vicente is the former mayor of San Pablo City, was driving his Toyota Innova (WCO-502) when he was shot at around 1:20 p.m.
Israel Aquino, retired policeman Romeo Mendoza and Gerardo Alcantara were shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-riding men in Nasugbu, Lipa City and San Luis, respectively.
Councilors nabbed
Meanwhile, in Agusan del Sur, Apolonio Layugan, 59, councilor and former vice mayor of Esperanza town, was arrested in an anti-drug operation also on Thursday.
Gilbert Buenafe, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Caraga, said five grams of shabu with an estimated street value of P59,000 and a 9mm pistol were recovered from the suspect.
Police said Layugan is a “high-value” drug pusher.
Bienvenido Vicedo Jr., councilor of Morong, Bataan, and municipal government employee Jose Diwa were nabbed in separate raids on their houses.
The suspects yielded five sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia, guns and ammunition, police said.