Five suspected drug personalities including a 50-year-old mother and her son were killed while another relative was seriously wounded when unidentified men peppered them with bullets inside a public cemetery shortly after midnight Monday in Malabon City.
Myrna Moon, staying at Tugatog Cemetery located along Dr. Lascano Street, Barangay Tugatog succumbed to bullet wounds in the body while being rushed to Jose Reyes Memorial and Medical Center while her 28-year-old son Edmund Otico of 13 E. Dionisio St., Barangay Maysilo was declared dead at the Tondo Medical Hospital due to gunshot wounds in the body.
Myrna’s other son Edmer Otico, 31, also resident of E. Dionisio St., sustained bullet wounds in the back, right arm and left hand and was still under observation at Tondo Medical Hospital while Fe Nicanor, 43, also staying at Tugatog Cemetery, expired at Jose Reyes Memorial and Medical Center.
The sixth victim identified only as alias “Peter Bakla” died on the spot from bullet wounds in the head and body.
Investigation conducted by PO2 Julius Mabasa and PO1 Jose Rome Germinal of Malabon Police Criminal Investigation Unit showed that the shooting happened in the middle of a birthday celebration of Edmund held in a mausoleum inside Tugatog Cemetery at around 12:30 a.m.
The victims were having a drinking spree when four men armed with unknown caliber of handguns and all wearing bonnets opened fire. The gunmen fled on board two motorcycles.
Two pieces of folded white bond paper with markings that say “Pusher kami wag tularan” and “Sunod na kayo, papasok na kami jan”, eight pieces of empty shells, five deformed bullets , a bullet of still unknown caliber of firearms and sachets of suspected shabu were found at the crime scene.
Malabon police chief Senior Supt. John Chua said that Myrna’s other son whose name was withheld admitted that her mother was involved in illegal drug trade while his two brothers served as runners of her illegal activities.
In Makati, Mayor Abigail Binay asked residents and barangay officials of the city’s six exclusive villages to cooperate and help the police unmask drug users and pushers in their communities.
“The war on drugs can only be won if we extend our full cooperation with the police, especially in locating known pushers and users in our own backyard,” Binay said.
Oplan Tokhang mandates police station commanders to ask community leaders to submit a list of residents known to be into illegal drugs, including pushers, dealers, couriers and dependents.
Binay made the appeal after Makati City Police chief Rommil Mitra said there were zero surrenderees in barangays Magallanes, Dasmariñas, Forbes, San Lorenzo, Bel-Air and Urdaneta.
Police have not carried out the operations in the villages, except for Magallanes, because they were not provided with a list of suspects.
Instead of a list, the barangay leaders in Bel-Air, Dasmariñas, Forbes Park, San Lorenzo and Urdaneta issued a certification saying that there were no drug pushers and users monitored in their barangays.
Earlier, the mayor commended the Makati police for their initial conduct of Oplan Tokhang that resulted in the voluntary surrender of 734 illegal drug personalities consisting of 161 pushers and 573 users. With Joel Zurbano
