Another suspected remnant of the drug ring previously run by the slain dismissed cop-turned-druglord, PO1 Owen Rosales, was killed in a shootout Friday night in Tagbilaran City.
Investigators at the Tagbilaran City Police Station identified the slain man as one Leoncio Florenosos Jr., a 38-year-old resident of San Miguel.
According to SPO4 Yolando Bagotchay Jr., his team from the city police station and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), in coordination with the local team of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), conducted a joint buy-bust operation against one Melbert Pulguerinas, at around 7:45 p.m. on March 11 along EB Aumentado St., Barangay Cogon.
After handing a sachet of shabu to the poseur-buyer and receiving the payment, Pulguerinas sensed the presence of cops. He then ran towards his house and fled through the back door.
While the cops were chasing Pulguerinas, Florenosos appeared and pointed a firearm at the cops. This prompted one of the cops to shoot him.
Florenosos then ran inside the house and shot the pursuing cops, again prompting the cops to shoot him again.
Florenosos sustained gunshot wounds in the head, the left portion of the thigh, and in the portion below the left armpit.
The City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (CAIDSOTG), led by Bagotchay Jr., was composed of SPO2 Julieto Odvina, PO3 Clyd Lagumbay, PO2 Ignacio Inojales, PO2 Richie Lovete, PO2 Gary Labial, PO1 John Butch Epile, PO1 Maris Aldrin Gabuya and PO1 Manuel Manatad Jr.
They jointly conducted the buy-bust operation with SPO2 Herold Bihag and SPO2 Renato Garcia of the CIDG.
The police team recovered a 9 mm fired cartridge case, one caliber .45 Colt MK IV handgun bearing the serial number 196382 with chamber load (double feed) and magazine, and one cartridge from the possession of Florenosos.
Aside from the small sachet of shabu and the the 500-peso bill used as marked money during the buy-bust, the cops also recovered cotton balls with blood stain, 16 more small sachets of shabu, and one large open transparent plastic sachet with three folded aluminum foil with traces of shabu inside the house.
The inventory was conducted in the presence of Florabel Arcamo for the NPS, Barangay Kagawads Phil Rodney Magallano and Angelita Maniwang, representative of the media, and Pulguerinas’ wife as the occupant of the house.
The police team invited the two persons—Rene Miano and Megie Gloria—who were present in the area during the incident to the police station for verification and further investigation.
According to City Chief of Police George Vale, the two, at first, claimed they were husband and wife. It turned out in the further questioning that Gloria, who is from Talibon, had a relationship with Florenosos.
Florenosos was married, jobless and a resident of Capayas, San Miguel.
Vale said that they learned that Gloria allegedly met Florenosos in Baclayon.
Vale said they will investigate further on the presence of Miano and Gloria in the house of Pulguerinas and why they lied at first.
Another subject of investigation is the underground at the house that the operatives saw in plain view.
According to Vale, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Bohol Police Provincial Office had been gathering information regarding the activities inside the house and already planned to apply for a search warrant to conduct a raid.
EARLIER FALL
At around 6:10 p.m. on September 19, 2014, the suspected right hand of Rosales, Giovanni Cuizon, was shot by motorcycle-riding gunmen along J.A. Clarin St. near the City Hall.
Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered 1.53 grams of shabu placed in three sachets from Cuizon.
Rosales was tagged as the mastermind in the murder of Police Chief Inspector George Caña—then chief of police of Ubay in the evening of June 7, 2014.
After 14 hours, the police teams conducting the manhunt tracked down the assailants who turned out to be Rosales and his gang of nine at a resort in Bien Unido.
Rosales’ group engaged in a shootout with authorities and was killed along with five of his men.
A few hours later, Cuizon and two other men were intercepted at a checkpoint in San Miguel. He was, however, exempted from the arrest then because the police officers manning the checkpoint had recovered no contraband from his possession.
Police database showed that Cuizon, single at 26, was a former cadet of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy but was kicked out after being found to have been involved the use and sale of illegal drugs.
He was also tagged as “one of the top players in the illegal drugs business in the province when arrested in a raid in his residence in Talibon by Cañaâ€.
ANOTHER LINK
Another remnant of Rosales’ gang, one Justino Cajes, was arrested in a buy-bust operation at around 11:30 p.m. on February 17 last year in barangay Camambugan, Ubay through the order of Caña’s successor as Ubay chief of police, Chief Inspector Petronilo Gracia Jr.
Gracia identified the then 50-year-old Cajes as the father of the girlfriend of Rosales.
Prior to the February 2015 operation, Cajes had been arrested twice, but always managed to post bail.
The police team of Ubay arrested him for the third time at around 11:30 p.m. on February 17 during a buy-bust in barangay Camambugan, Ubay.
Cajes yielded one sachet of shabu in exchange of the 500-peso bill used as marked money.
In the frisk that ensued, the cops confiscated two more sachets of medium size containing shabu, some drug paraphernalia, a cellphone believed to have been used in his transactions and an unregistered motorcycle.
According to intelligence reports, Cajes, a native of barangay Poblacion in Trinidad would only go to Ubay to dispose his supply of drugs and immediately return home after the transaction, according to Gracia.
His daughter, Joan—then 18, was among the companions of Rosales who surrendered to authorities prior to the exchange of gunfire in the Bien Unido operation in 2014.