Pot times July 16, 2005
Pusher Playing Cards Gunned Down
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1120/a02.htmlNewshawk: Tom Smith
Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 'PUSHER' PLAYING CARDS GUNNED DOWN
Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Sun.Star
Contact:
sunnex@sunstar.com.ph
Website: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690
Author: Jovy S. Taghoy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines
A suspected big-time drug pusher, whom police said belonged to the level of
slain suspects Joel "Tongol" Nodalo and Hector "Boy Yaya"
Salcedo in the illegal drugs trade, was gunned down shortly before noon
yesterday on Alviola St., Villagonzalo Dos, Barangay Tejero, Cebu City.
Victor del Mar, 61, died of a single gunshot wound in the head after a lone
gunman shot him at close range while he was playing "tong-its," a card
betting game, inside a neighbor's house.
No one among del Mar's playmates recognized the gunman, who they said was
wearing a ball cap to hide his face.
SPO2 Alex Dacua, team leader of the responding homicide investigators, said that
while they admit that del Mar was killed vigilante-style, they are considering a
drug-related motive in the killing.
Del Mar was the 68th suspected criminal to fall since the killings started last
Dec. 22.
Del Mar's common-law-wife Linda Quijardo, 47, confirmed that the victim once
engaged in selling shabu but recently stopped.
Quijardo admitted that she and del Mar spent time in the Bagong Buhay
Rehabilitation Center in Cebu City and in the National Bilibid Prisons in
Muntinlupa City for drug-related cases.
Firecracker
Celedonio Condor, 72, who was sitting beside del Mar said he first mistook the
burst of gunfire as that of a firecracker explosion and even remarked why his
neighbors threw the firecracker near him.
Condor, however, then noticed that blood was oozing from del Mar's head.
Condor and another playmate Jonathan Empenado, a newsboy, said they would have
wanted to run after the gunman but thought twice out of fear that the gunman
might shoot them.
Responding operatives of the Crime Suppression Unit and homicide investigators
recovered one empty shell of a .45 pistol.
Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau Chief Pablo Labra II said that
based on the order of battle of people involved in the illegal drug trade, del
Mar was a "big-time drug pusher" in the category where Nodalo and
Salcedo belonged.
Nodalo and his alleged right-hand man, Salcedo, were both killed
vigilante-style. Nodalo was shot 14 times by a lone gunman in Buenavista,
Bohol last June 23, while Salcedo was also shot repeatedly by two men on Alviola
St., Cebu City last Feb. 22.
Jail Time
Records of del Mar from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center showed he was
jailed twice, both for violation of Republic Act 6425, the old anti-illegal
drugs law.
He was first committed to the city jail on Aug. 29, 1995 but was released
on Sept. 18 that year on condition of "release on recognizance"
to lawyer Eduardo Gabriel Jr.
He was sent back to the city jail on Oct. 30, 1996.
On Aug. 29, 1998, del Mar was transferred to the National Bilibid Prisons.
Quijardo said del Mar was released from the National Bilibid Prisons in late
1998 and did not resume his illegal drug activity.
Sun.Star Cebu records showed that del Mar was arrested in a police buy-bust
operation on Aug. 26, 2001 in Villagonzalo Dos.
Operatives from the Punta Princesa Police Station, however, found it hard to
arrest del Mar because several residents and bystanders would mob the police
apparently to prevent the suspect's arrest.
