This town’s Mayor Bon Alejandrino said yesterday vigilantes could be responsible for the killing of an allegedly notorious drug pusher he identified as Enrique Mendiola, 40, at about 4 p.m. Thursday last week in Plaza Luma here.
He said Mendiola was boarding a tricycle when he was fatally shot by one of two men on board a motorcycle. The still unidentified suspects fled immediately.
“It is very possible that Mendiola was shot by vigilantes. The victim had been notorious for drugs, on top of cases of murder and frustrated murder cases he was facing. I was even wondering how come he was at large instead of being in jail,” Alejandrino said in a telephone interview.
He said that when he became mayor in 2013, illegal drugs were being sold like candies in this town. He said that while the local drug problem has lessened over the recent years, it has remained a concern of the local government.
Duterte has openly encouraged vigilantism against criminals, especially those involved in illegal drugs, encouraging citizens to arrest such criminals.
Since Duterte’s victory in the last presidential elections, a new wave of vigilantism against suspected drug dealers has been reported in Visayan provinces.
In Negros Occidental, an alleged drug supplier in the northern part of the province was killed by two motorcycle-riding men near Calatrava.
Another victim, Habib Into, 49, who was in San Carlos City’s list of most wanted criminals, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds. On the same day in Talisay City, the body of one Jeffrey Buencamino, 33, was found with gunshot wounds with his hands cut off. His killers had left on the body a board with the text “I am a member of Akyat Bahay (a crime gang), a thief, an addict. Don’t follow my example because you will be killed next.”
In Negros Oriental, lawyer Rex Agan Perewperew was shot dead by two men on motorbikes as he rode his bicycle to visit a client at a retirement home in Barangay Looc, Dumaguete City. The lawyer was also being investigated for drugs before he was killed.
In Iloilo, two men with criminal records were found shot to death at separate locations. Of the the victims was Sherwin Taasan, 38, a convicted bag snatcher and one-time drug addict. He was shot six times in the head.
The other victims was Lou Facto who was shot dead with his hands tied behind his back. He was shot 11 times. Facto had just been freed after having been detained in connection with a drugs and firearms case.
Alejandrino said Mendiola was the suspect in the killing last week of one Joel Garcia in the same place. Garcia, he said, was also a suspected drug dealer.
He said that while the killing of Mendiola could be a case of vigilantism, he cited reports that those involved in drugs in this town are also fighting amongst themselves amid fear of the Duterte administration.
