ARE the cities of Dagupan and San Urdaneta the main sources of illegal drugs now flooding Baguio City?

This question arose following a buy-bust operation conducted by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency from the Cordillera region Tuesday afternoon against suspected drug dealers at sitio Silungan in barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City.

Although this was coordinated with PDEA Region I, the Police Provincial Office and the Dagupan Police, this was an operation of PDEA-Cordillera.

 In a crossfire that ensued during the entrapment, a woman bystander was killed while her companion was wounded.

 The fatality was identified by the police as Clara Aquino, alias “Claring” of barangay Baritao, Manaoag who was shot in different parts of her body and declared dead on arrival at the Decena Hospital in Bonuan Gueset, Dagupan City.

Wounded on the right arm were civilian action agent Paul Pestelos and a tricycle driver, identified as Jerwin Bucao, who was hit with stray bullets in the stomach and legs.

Bucao was hired by the PDEA agents to drive them to sitio Silungan where the supposed buy-bust operation was supposed to take place carrying with them a show money of P150, 000.

The operation, headed by Supt. Oliver Embodias, was  planned in Baguio four days before and  resulted in the arrest of a certain Sihawi Macatoman, alias “Otal”; and one Malik Ampuan, from whom four transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu weighing 60 grams were seized.

Three other targets of the operation identified as Liza Sultan, Tony Sultan and Abukalic Baulo eluded arrest, according to the police report.

Elements of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group and the Dagupan City Police Station later joined the operation.

Curiously, Supt. Edgar Basbas, police chief of Dagupan, said the arrested suspects as well as their companions, who escaped, were not among the personalities in the drug list of the police.

Moreover, Bonuan Binloc is among the barangays in Dagupan already listed as drug-free.

The buy-bust operation was a follow up of an earlier entrapment operation conducted by PDEA agents in Baguio City where one of the arrested suspects confessed that his supply of shabu is sourced from sitio Silungan in Bonuan Biloc, Dagupan City.

The suspect said they were getting their supplies from drug dealers in Doña Loleng Village in Urdaneta City as well.

 Investigation showed that during the negotiation with the drug dealers, the latter had back up men with firearms posted a few meters away.

 When they sensed the presence of law enforcers, two immediately started shooting at the lawmen.

 The gunmen fled after the other suspects managed to escape from the entrapment.

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