By NITZ ARANCON and
JIGGER J. JERUSALEM,
Correspondents
A SUSPECTED drug dealer was killed while three police officers were wounded in a shootout during a botched entrapment in Barra, Opol, Misamis Oriental on Friday night.
Maj. Evan Viñas, city police spokesman, said the dead suspect, MaingkoAlinog, was “armed and dangerous.”
“Pagkana-og pa langsa suspect saiyang gisakyan nga motor, iya dayon nga gipang pusil ang mga pulis,” Viñas said.
Viñas identified the wounded as S/Sgt. Rex Tinio of the City Drug Enforcement Unit, Cpl. ReynanteRara of the Cogon police station, and S/Sgt. Homer Rapliza of the local Special Weapons and Tactics unit.
Tinio was shot to the arm; a bullet hit one of Rara’s fingers; and Rapliza was shot to the leg.
The officers were rushed to the JR Borja Memorial General Hospital for first aid treatment, and they were subsequently moved to the Polymedic Plaza.
Viñas said Alinog, who hailed from Marawi but who lived in Pinikitan, Camaman-an, and the officers traded bullets at Vamenta Subdivision in Barra, Opol, past 7 pm.
According to Viñas, Alinog was suspected to be behind the Oct. 8 shooting death of one John Mark Lagumbay in Pinikitan, Barangay Camaman-an. Alinog, he said, had suspected Lagumbay as a police “asset”(informer).
Viñas said the police officers posed as shabu buyers who were supposed to transact with Alinog at an inn in Barangay Kauswagan.
He said Alinog subsequently changed their meeting place to Vamenta Subdivision.
There, according to Viñas, Alinog started shooting at the policemen with a caliber .45 pistol, and then he ran into a house from where he later lobbed a grenade.
“Abi na samaong suspect nga nag tapok ang mga pulis nga nag sunod kaniya, mao tong iyang gilabay og granada. Maayo gani kay walay naigo saiyang gilabay nga hand grenade,” said Viñas.
He said the officers subsequently barged into the house where they killed Alinog.
In another development, a public school teacher is now facing charges after he was arrested for allegedly selling illegal drugs.
Arrested by a joint team of police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives during a buy-and-bust operation in Damulog town, Bukidnon late Thursday was Rey Sungahid.
According to a report provided by Wilkins Villanueva, PDEA regional director, Sungahid is a 9th-grade teacher at Old Damulog National High School.
Seized from Sungahid, a resident of Purok 2, Barangay New Compostela in Damulog, were four plastic sachets containing what law enforcers believed was shabu weighing two grams and with an estimated street value of P16 thousand.
Maj. Silvestre Asiong, Bukidnon police spokesman, said Sungahid was in the police’s watch list. He allegedly started using and selling crystal meth in 2015.
Asiong said the suspect, aside from teaching, was a fruit dealer at the same time.
Asiong said there were also allegations that the suspect was selling drugs to his students and fellow teachers.
Villanueva said a case for violation of Republic Act 9165 is now being prepared against the suspect.
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