Senior Police Supt. Rodulfo Llorca, police director of the Philippine National Police, confirmed yesterday that “double cross” could be one of the possible motives behind the killing of a 32-year old suspected drug lord in the vicinity of the Halls of Justice in Cogon district, this city, at about noontime Thursday. Considered as high value target in police line-up, Alexander Romero y, Mendez of barangay Cantumucad, Buenavista town, was executed gangland style in what was believed to be the deadly consequence of a drug deal gone bust. According to Supt. Llorca, initial investigation showed that the victim was facing a drug case before the sala of Presiding Judge Teofilo Baluma of the Regional Trial Court Branch I. Just after the hearing was over when the victim excused to buy cigarettes to a store nearby when an unidentified assailant came from behind and shot him.

The first shot missed the target prompting the suspect to run to a parked vehicle, a Mitsubishi Lancer which he owned. Then the determined gunman caught up with him pumping at least several bullets in the different parts of his body causing his instantaneous death. The killer used at least two guns of unknown caliber in finishing off his victim. Then he casually rode a waiting motorcycle driven by an accomplish and fled towards Calceta St. According to Supt. Llorca, the victim was considered big-time in the police Order of Battle as far as dealing drugs was concerned. The double cross motive cropped up after police believed that Romero was the source of drug shipments from Cebu on consignment basis. Llorca said in most cases, the rule of thumb in any drug transaction was that payments are to be made in installment basis after the stuff is disposed. In the case of the drug lord who was believed to be operating in the Inabanga-Buenavista area and adjoining towns , the possibility of becoming delinquent in his drug remittances to his Cebu supplier must have piled up already resulting in having meted out the supreme penalty of death.

Asked to elaborate on his drug lord status, Supt. Llorca said this title may be attained in the drug hierarchy if the business of drug dealing already involved in big qualities or in kilos. Per the PNP dossier of the slain drug personality, Romero's shabu business was already quantified in kilos and no longer in sachets thus earning him the title of drug lord. This developed even as the car owned by the suspect yielded only 11 sachets of the prohibited substance, cash amounting to P10,200.00, a cell phone , a laptop and other drug paraphernalia. As to the disparity in the quantity found in his possession and his drug lord background, the same was nor explained by Supt. Llorca. Asked further what other circumstances surrounding the person of the murdered drug suspect, Supt. Llorca said that, actually, the arrest of Romero for a drug case was only accidental. According to the police official, the tip for his arrest was about reports of gun smuggling involving Romero but the arresting team instead had stumbled on another business the suspect was in--drug dealing. Since the quantity was within the bailable range, he was able to post bail in the amount of P200,000. This explained why he was enjoying temporary liberty at the time he was killed.

DRUG WAR

But another lead being pursued by police in looking into the drug lord's slay was the possibility that he was a casualty of a raging turf war over the lucrative but dangerous drug trade. This surfaced as police investigators did not yet rule out “drug war” that drove Romero's killing although investigators remain clueless as to who were the perpetrators, a source of a police investigation unit bared. The victim was with his legal counsel Nero Bautista when the gun man waited for his quarry as he came out of the court hearing. The police responded immediately on board a service vehicle after it received information that somebody was killed at the Halls of Justice. Even Judge Baluma , in a separate interview, said he also heard the burst of gunfire. He even got out of his chamber still wearing his robe to see what went wrong but he only saw some people milling around the lifeless body of the victim. Scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) have recovered at least eight empty shells of a .45 caliber hand gun from the crime scene.   In the ensuing investigation, it was gathered that the sachets of shabu found in the car was an indication that it was still “business as usual” as far as Romero was concerned.

Pressed to comment on the drug war motive, the source refused to give details of their findings while the seized substances are still at the laboratory to test if the haul were indeed shabu. Romero was said to be a respondent of a lawsuit filed against him in connection of his arrest of alleged drug possession. He was trapped at Tubigon seaport after disembarking from the vessel by elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). The victim just got out from his hearing from his sala prior to his killing, Judge Baluma recalled. He also had a separate hearing of drug-related case in another court of the Halls of Justice on that fateful day, the judge said. The report that Romero, before his death, told a friend about a certain personality should be blamed if he gets killed is still under wraps by the police for more verification. The police source did not give the identity of Romero's friend who had already visited the police station and cooperated with the investigation.(With reports from Ric Obedencio)