By NITZ ARANCON
with LITO RULONA
Correspondents .
THE narrative is the same: a drug peddler with only P500 realizes that he is dealing with undercover cops, pulls out a cheap and rusty caliber .38 revolver, fires, misses, and gets shot dead.
That, according to the police, was what happened to Fernando Abejuela a.k.a. Dominador Bastismo Camanyan of 20th Street in Nazareth, this city, on Friday night.
The alleged shootout made Abejuela the eighth drug peddler killed in the government’s “war on drugs” in the city.
Macasandig police chief Senior Insp. Mario Mantala claimed that Abejuela was shot and killed during a buy-and-bust operation at Buena de Oro in Barangay Macasandig at around 10:14 pm on Friday.
According to Mantala, Abejuela had just been released from the city jail in Lumbia where he was placed behind bars for an illegal drug case.
Mantala said Abejuela was also a notorious robbery suspect based in Barangay Nazareth.
He alleged that Abejuela drew and fired a caliber .38 revolver after he sensed that he was dealing with an undercover policeman. Like the slain drug peddlers before him, Abejuela missed, according to the police.
Mantala said Abejuela was killed after being shot twice by the officer who supposedly fought back. He was shot to the chest and cheek.
Like some of those killed before him, Abejuela was also allegedly armed with a grenade.
“Maayo gani kay wala niya maibot ang pin niini sa dihang ang maong granada, gibonot sa maong suspitsado,” said Mantala.
Police claimed the suspect had five sachets of alleged shabu, bullet cases for a caliber .38 revolver and a 9mm pistol. He also had, allegedly, P500 supposedly used by the police in the buy-and-bust operation.
Meanwhile, the crime volume in the city has decreased by almost 50 percent during the third quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, the city’s police chief said.
Citing data from the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, city police director Senior. Supt. Nelson Aganon said the drop was a result of the joint efforts of the local government, barangays and law enforcement units in the fight against criminality.
He said index crimes were reduced from 8,126 to 4,116 from January to September compared to the same period last year. It was a 49.42-percent drop in index crimes during the first three quarters.
He said the month of April 2017 registered the most number of crimes at 248. April 2018, he said, also had the highest so far this year with 90 crimes registered.
Theft cases topped the list of crimes with 708 in 2017 and 165 this year.
Cocpo said cases of physical injuries came in second at 308 in 2017 and 120 this year.
Third in the Cocpo list is robbery with 218 cases in 2017 and 87 cases so far this year.
But Aganon noted an slight increase in rape cases with 50 cases so far this year and 43 cases last year.
He said cases of motorcycle theft which he called “motornapping” decreased to 13 cases from 39 cases last year.
Because of the feat, the city council recently passed Resolution 13091-2018, commending Cocpo for its efforts and initiatives in lowering the crime rate in the city.
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