Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-12. (File photo courtesy of the PRO-12)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Three alleged drug personalities including a dismissed police officer were killed in a shootout with anti-drug operatives in a village in Polomolok town, South Cotabato province on Wednesday night.
Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-12, identified the slain suspects as former Police Officer 1 Joel Labuen, Gary Montero and a certain alias “Kokoy,” all residents of Polomolok.
Capellan said the shootout ensued during a buy-bust operation launched by joint elements from the PRO-12’s drug enforcement unit, South Cotabato police drug enforcement unit, and the Polomolok municipal police station around 7:15 p.m. in front of the DARBC cemetery along Farm Road in Barangay Cannery Site.
Capellan said the operation, which was conducted in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 12, mainly targeted Labuen, who was previously assigned at the Polomolok police station.
During the transaction, he said an undercover police officer was able to purchase a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP500 from the suspects.
But he said Labuen and his cohorts resisted after noticing the presence of police operatives and drew their firearms, leading to a brief firefight that resulted in the fatal wounding of Labuen and Montero.
Alias “Kokoy” managed to flee from the scene aboard a motorcycle and sped off towards the Purok Aquino Gate of the same village but was cornered by the pursuing lawmen inside the Perlan compound.
Another shootout reportedly ensued at the compound owned by Labuen’s mother-in-law, resulting in the wounding of the suspect.
“They were all rushed to the Howard Hubbard Memorial Hospital but were declared dead upon arrival by the attending doctor,” Capellan said in a report released on Thursday afternoon.
Recovered from Labuen’s possession were a .45-caliber handgun with seven bullets, three sachets of suspected shabu and various drug paraphernalia, while Montero yielded a homemade .38-caliber revolver loaded with one bullet.
Seized from alias “Kokoy” were a Norinco 9mm pistol with three bullets and three sachets of suspected shabu.
Capellan said Labuen was found positive of using shabu in a mandatory drug testing in early 2016 and was later dismissed from service due to his “continued involvement in illegal drug activities”.
“He was a top target and included in the IDID (inter-agency drug information database) list,” he added. (PNA)
