'DRUG dealer with ties to Bilibid 'lords' shot dead in QC

MANILA An alleged drug dealer with a supposed connection to Bilibid drug lords died
on Thursday morning in Quezon City, after he shot it out with authorities whom he tried
to bribe for a light drug offense against his girlfriend caught in a drug bust last week.

Renan Roque, who managed to escape a drug bust operation on Saturday, wasnt as
lucky this time in evading arrest as authorities gunned him down in what was supposed
to be an entrapment operation along Kalayaan Avenue corner Kamias Road in
Barangay Pinyahan at around 1:35 a.m. on Thursday.

Senior Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, the Quezon City Police Districts director, said that
Roque was the subject of an entrapment operation of their District Special Operations
Unit, after he tried to bribe policemen P50,000 to junk their case of selling illegal drugs
against his month-long girlfriend, Mariel Ann Go.

Go earlier told police that her former boyfriend paid authorities in Pasig City P60,000 to
junk a similar charge.

Through an undisclosed civilian middleman, Roque negotiated the release of his

girlfriend, who was arrested on Saturday in a drug bust at the corner of Narra and
Almon Streets in Barangay Claro. Roque managed to evade arrest then as he sped off
onboard his car.

Eleazar said that in exchange for money, Roque wanted the police to drop its charge
against Go for selling illegal drugs and just retain its case of possession of illegal drugs,
a bailable offense.

When Roque met with the police at a hamburger joint past midnight, Eleazar said that
the suspect, who alighted from a cab sensed the presence of police officers, tried to run
and fired shots at the policemen, who returned fire.

The suspect sustained six gunshot wounds in the body and was brought to the East
Avenue Medical Center for treatment but was pronounced dead on arrival. Authorities
recovered from the suspect a .45-caliber pistol and a belt bag with two mobile phones,
P20,000 cash and five sachets believed to contain methamphetamine hydrochloride or
shabu.

Eleazar said that as of Thursday, they were still verifying information on Roques
connection with convicted drug lords Hans Tan, Lawrence Yu and Herbert Colangco, all
tagged as the Bilibid 19, a group of high-profile inmates at the New Bilibid Prisons,
convicted for major crimes but given illegal perks and privileges that enabled them to
live luxuriously inside prison.

Drug supplier to stars, cohort killed; Robin Padillas cousin, 2 nabbed in Laguna

LOS BAOS, Laguna A man believed to be the top supplier of drugs to showbiz stars
and an unidentified cohort were killed while three others, among them a cousin of actor
Robin Padilla, were arrested Thursday in San Pedro City, in Laguna province, in police
operations.

Supt. Harold Depositar, San Pedro police chief, said policemen, who were serving an
arrest warrant against Alvin Vergel Commerciante, were met with gunfire when they
approached the latters house in Adelina Subdivision in Barangay San Vicente at 10
a.m.

Depositar said policemen returned fire, resulting in a brief shoot-out that killed an
unidentified man and Commerciante, live-in partner of Criselda Padilla.

Depositar said Commerciante and his partner Padilla, who was identified by the police
as the actors cousin, were supplying illegal drugs, such as shabu (methamphetamine
hydrochloride) and ecstasy, to showbiz stars. They allegedy belonged to group that
catered to showbiz personalities.

Criselda and two other men were arrested after the firefight, according to a report from
the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) police.

The warrant against Commerciantes arrest was issued by Judge Agripino Morga of the
Regional Trial Court in San Pablo City, Laguna. The operation was led by the Philippine
National Polices Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) based in Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Depositar said Commerciante was also known as a hitman of a drug lord detained in
the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. He did not identify the drug lord but said their
information showed that Commerciante had targeted pushers who failed to remit drug
money to financiers.

The [couple] had been renting the house [in San Pedro] for two years. They were not
what you call street pushers. Even village [officials] did not know about their activities,
Depositar said.

He said the police recovered a still undertermined amount of shabu, weighing scales
and several passports from the suspects house.
In a separate telephone interview, Senior Supt. Randy Peralta, AIDG supervisor for
Southern Luzon, said the police, as ofThursday afternoon, were still documenting the
evidence recovered from Commerciantes house, as well as establishing the identities
of the other suspects.