A 37-year-old village chief in Batangas was killed in a shootout with police during a drug buy-bust operation on Tuesday.
The suspect sustained five gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on arrival at the St. Andrew Hospital in nearby Talisay town, Acting Police Director Senior Superintendent Randy Q. Peralta said.
Police identified the fatality as Charlie Sanchez Macapuno, 37 and resident of
Poblacion 1, Laurel town.
According to police, the suspect came from Dayap Itaas Village in Alfonso, Cavite, a village bordering Laurel town suspected as a source of illegal drugs.
Recovered from the crime scene at San Gabriel Village in Laurel were a caliber .45 pistol, a magazine, and five plastic sachets containing crystals suspected as ‘shabu.’
Reports from Police Senior Inspector Nephtali Solomon, chief of police of Laurel town, revealed that Macapuno was categorized as high value target (HVT) in their town.
Police disclosed the suspect was also found positive of illegal drugs during the drug test conducted for all municipal employees and village chiefs of the town.
Solomon added the suspect had been a frequent respondent in a series of different police intervention operations in the past months.
Macapuno had eluded arrest in previous police operations and cases against him have suffered snags due to unavailability of witnesses to testify against him and the lack of strong evidence.
However, continuous validation and surveillance were made that led the local police to set a buy-bust operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The operation was part of the second wave of the Oplan Crackdown (One Time-Big Time) of the provincial police, according to Peralta. (Jojo Magsombol/PNA)
Photo credit: zamboanga.com
