By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – After more than a year of hiding, an alleged drug lord who escaped from Medellin District Jail in Cebu province last year was killed in a shootout with police operatives at Barangay Minoyan, Murcia, Negros Occidental Monday.
The fatality was identified as Jenifer Mercader, 43, of Barangay Lugo, Borbon, Cebu.
Mercader was a former Lugo village chief who was caught for illegal possession of illegal drugs and loose firearms two years before his escape.
Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, director of Police Regional Office (PRO)-6, said Mercader was a self-confessed killer who admitted killing Lieutenant Colonel Joie Yape, a police officer in Cebu.
“He was armed and dangerous,” Pamuspusan said, adding that Mercader was linked to several drug activities in the region.
Pamuspusan said Mercader was able to evade operatives in a buy-bust operation on Aug 27, 2020 at Barangay Pahanocoy here, but drug charges were filed against him.
His companion during the said operation was killed in the shootout.
Since then, intelligence monitoring was intensified to locate him, Pamuspusan said.
Lieutenant John Paul Tabujara, town police chief, said Mercader has been placed under monitoring by the authorities after he bolted out of jail in March 2019.
Tabujara said they recently found out that Mercader was hiding in a house at the upland portion of the town, in a cock farm.
Mercader would usually transfer from one place to another until police cornered him in the said village.
“Kabalo siya na ginapangita siya sang tanan sa Cebu, amo na diri siya nanago,” he added.
On Monday morning, joint operatives of the Special Operations Unit 7, Police Drug Enforcement Group, along with the Regional Intelligence Division (RID)-6, RID-7, Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU), Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU), and Murcia Municipal Police Station conducted manhunt operation against Mercader, who was considered the 10th priority high value individual on illegal drugs of PRO-7 in Cebu.
But Mercader sensed the presence of policemen in the area and allegedly fired a .45-caliber pistol, which resulted in a five-minute firefight, Tabujara said.
“We urged him to surrender peacefully, pero nagpalupok siya, that’s why we retaliated,” he added. No other injuries were reported.
Police recovered eight sachets of suspected shabu worth P472,000, a .45-caliber pistol loaded with live ammunitions, fired ammunition cases, and a 12-gauge shotgun.
Tabujara said Mercader was known as “drug king pin” in Cebu.
He said Mercader reportedly supplied illegal drugs for big transactions in Central Visayas and Negros province, citing the recovered deposit slips with minimum amount of P1 million a day.
“Dako gid ni siya nga tawo sa illegal drugs, kung jobless ka, diin ka makuha milyon mag deposit? Drug lord gid ni siya,” Tabujara said.
He said Mercader allegedly even had connections with other drug lords inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
In fact, they also learned that Mercader was allegedly the supplier of the contraband worth millions which were seized by authorities in San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Sibulan town in Negros Oriental, and Cebu the past few weeks.
He, however, said they could not yet tell if he has a drug group.
Meanwhile, Pamuspusan lauded the personnel who successfully carried out the manhunt operation.
“This is an output of intelligence work,” he said.
