Dumaguete shootings linked to illegal drugs

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – The number of shootings and killings in this city during the previous months has been traced to illegal drugs trade gone awry.

This was the assessment of Superintendent James Goforth who also disclosed that the drug deals in this capital of Negros Oriental has been a complicated problem involving high-profile personalities, who he refused to name at this time.

Goforth also refused to elaborate on the findings of the police, but he admitted that one of the main sources of shabu has been confirmed to be from the Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, a matter that he said has been public knowledge here in Dumaguete, based on revelations made by suspects arrested in buy-bust operations.

Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PAIDSOTG) team leader, Inspector Jay Ryan Orapa also said the Muntinlupa source had been confirmed in almost all of their anti-drugs operations.

Goforth said police investigators are now piecing together vital information gleaned from various sources, to include text messages from “drug pushers” who were either killed or injured in previous months.

Goforth added that the police was about to uncover some pieces of evidences on illegal drug deals based on recovered text messages, from the suspects, which were of high intelligence value.

Evidences recovered from the recent shooting victim in  Barangay Bajumpandan, this city, showed that Rolando “Landoy” Cahilo Bendijo, was not only a freelance make-up artist but also a distributor of illegal drugs.

Bendijo was shot dead with a .45-cal.  gun on Wednesday afternoon by still unidentified motorcycle-riding attackers, while he was on his way to his hometown of Bacong after sending money through a courier service firm. Evidences gathered by investigators showed the shooting may have been related to illegal drugs transactions.

Of  the four cellphones recovered from the victim’s possession, one contained information pointing to drug deals, which warned him of  the unremitted proceeds from the sale of shabu. The message sender was Tagalog-speaking, and that some transactions mentioned of specific grams of shabu.

Also recovered from the possession of Bendijo were traces of shabu use and receipts from a newly remitted amount to a certain person through the “Padala” courier system. Bendijo was believed to have been taken out for “non-remittance” of sales of the illegal drug, Goforth said.

Goforth however admitted that, due to the complex network of  the illegal drugs ring in Dumaguete and other parts of  Negros Oriental, it has been difficult for them to pin down the alleged financiers and, at most times, the distributors and dealers who were either get killed or threatened for transactions gone bad.

The police chief  however assured the public that his command has been doing its best to address the illegal drugs problem in the city, although he anticipated that more shooting incidents may follow, especially now that rival drug groups may have started to strike at each other for botched deals.  (FREEMAN)