By Jennifer P. Rendon
An alleged high-value individual (HVI) drug personality was killed while another was injured in a police anti-narcotics operation afternoon of April 21, 2021 in Janiuay, Iloilo.
Police identified the slain suspect as Daniel Dalisay, 33, a native of Barangay Balabag, Pavia, Iloilo, but was residing at Sitio Cantel, Barangay Damires, Janiuay, the area where the drug operation took place.
Dalisay’s friend, 32-year old Eugene Garzon, also a resident of Damires village, was arrested.
Their companion, a certain Tarzan, escaped.
The Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) said that both Garzon and Tarzan are also HVI drug personalities.
Members of the RPDEU Team 3 led by Lieutenant Glenn Soliman conducted the operation around 4:30 p.m. wherein a police undercover agent was able to buy a sachet of suspected shabu from Dalisay, Garzon, and Tarzan.
Garzon, whose wife is Dalisay’s cousin, allegedly led authorities inside his house where the trade happened.
When the operatives were about to arrest the suspects, they ran to the back of the portion of the house while Garzon was cornered.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Anthony Darroca, RPDEU-6 chief, said the shootout happened when Dalisay allegedly shot the operatives first.
The cops retaliated and hit his chest.
Police claimed to have recovered 11 sachets of suspected shabu, a caliber .9mm pistol (Colt Combat Commander) loaded with five ammunition pieces, an empty cartridge of caliber 9mm ammunition, P15,100 marked, P3,470 cash, and other non-drug items.
The RPDEU valued the seized substance at P544,000.
Daily Guardian learned that Dalisay was recently released from the New Bilibid Prison.
He allegedly established a connection with Jovern Abantao, a detained drug personality from Iloilo City.
ABANTAO GROUP
The Abantao drug group has been tagged in the illegal drug business in Iloilo, as suspected pushers who were previously arrested with big volumes of drugs are linked to the group.
In December 2020, Ronel Derojo, 39, of Barangay San Isidro, La Paz, was arrested with around P238,000 worth of shabu in a police anti-narcotics operation in La Paz, Iloilo City over the weekend.
Before him, police also arrested Mark Kristian Arroyo was arrested December 4 at Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
Members of the Iloilo City Police Office – City Drug Enforcement Unit (ICPO-CDEU) collared Arroyo, 32, a resident of Barangay Zona Sur, Banate, and seized from him shabu with an estimated street value of P150,000.
Prior to Arroyo, two alleged members of the group were arrested following a police anti-narcotics operation on November 18, 2020 in Guimbal, Iloilo.
Police identified the suspects as Raymond Terosa, 26, of Taneza St., Barangay 1, Tigbauan, Iloilo; and Ruby Dayatao, 27, of Balantad Street, Guimbal were yielded with P100,000 worth of shabu.
On October 19, a woman whose alleged lover is incarcerated for a drug offense, was arrested in an anti-illegal drugs operation in Molo, Iloilo City.
The RPDEU nabbed Eliza May Malfarta, 25, a resident of Barangay San Juan, Molo; and her alleged cohort Distin Jay Garvilles, at Zone 3, Barangay Boulevard, Molo.
Malfarta, whose live-in partner Bernie Abantao has been incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, had been under monitoring for about a month before her arrest.
Suspected shabu worth P600,000 was seized from their possession.
The RPDEU-6 believed that Malfarta was being used by the Abantao Gang in the latter’s drug trade.
The group is led by Bernie’s brother, Jovern.
Jovern, Bernie, and another brother are all detained at the New Bilibid Prison
Jovern was also the same inmate who allegedly mobilized drug pushers who were caught with P7.4 million of illegal drugs in an operation in the city and province of Iloilo on Feb. 3, 2020. He was arrested in 2016 for an illegal drug offense.
For a while, Jovern’s alleged operation was cut short. He later flunked a surprise drug test at BJMP-District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo almost three years ago.
