Cop linked to drugs killed in Bacolod buy-bust operation

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A policeman was killed in a buy-bust operation after he resisted arrest at a suspected drug den in Barangay 18 in this city on Saturday night, July 2.

The target of the operation was Police Officer 2 (PO2) Francis Philip Cañete, who had gone on absence without leave (AWOL) for a year. He was previously assigned to the Bacolod City Police Office.

Cañete sold a sachet of alleged shabu for P500 to a policeman who posed as a buyer at around 10:30 pm.

During the arrest, the suspect fired at the drug operative, who was able to evade the shot, said Chief Inspector Jerick Filosofo, head of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (CAIDSOTG).

This prompted the policeman to shoot Cañete, who succumbed to gunshot wounds in the head.

Recovered from the scene were about 25 grams of shabu worth an estimated P150,000.

Filosofo said they had been monitoring Cañete’s activities since January this year, as he was included in the city police’s counter-intelligence drug watchlist. 

The drug den was reportedly owned by a certain “Jovy,” who was also a drug personality.

The operation comes just as newly-inaugurated President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his vow to suppress drugs in the first 3 to 6 months of his administration.

Duterte had said in June that he would have erring cops killed if they are involved in illegal drugs.

Duterte’s pick to head the Philippine National Police (PNP), Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, also said last Friday, July 1, that he was giving cops involved in the drug trade 48 hours to surrender, or else they should just be full-time drug lords and face the consequences of their actions. – Rappler.com