Kagawad linked to drug trade shot dead

By: Felipe V. Celino 

ROXAS CITY, Capiz— Unidentified suspects gunned down a kagawad (village council member) of Brgy. Punta Tabuc here Tuesday morning in an auto repair shop at Cagay village here.

Kagawad Oneal “Dodoy” Arandez, who was once linked to the illegal drug trade, was declared dead on arrival at Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital here due to multiple gunshot wounds.

Police investigation indicated that Arandez went to the repair shop to have his motorcycle checked when four masked suspects alighted from a red Toyota Innova car and approached the victim.

Without any word, the suspects shot Arandez in the head, neck, and other parts of his body.

Police Master Sergeant Ramil Arcangeles, Roxas City police investigator, said a hot pursuit operation was mounted against the suspects who fled towards Ivisan town.

Arcangeles said they have yet to establish the motive for shooting.

Arandez was arrested in a drug buy-bust operation in December 2015 in front of Gaisano Mall on Arnaldo Boulevard here. But the charges against him were dropped for lack of evidence.

He was the number one kagawad of Punta Tabuc and chaired the committee on peace and order and police matters of the village council.

Based on reports from Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas, 30 drug personalities were killed in police operations in 2019 while seven died due to natural causes.

Also, 23 drug personalities in the hands of motorcycle-riding suspects.

PRO-6 earlier said its main targets for 2020 are 105 high-value target (HVT) drug personalities who are believed to be very much active in the narcotics trade.

Most of these HVT drug personalities are either in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, two areas in Western Visayas where millions of pesos worth of illegal drugs, particularly methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, were confiscated in recent months.

The 105 targets are in Negros Occidental (50), Bacolod City (32), Iloilo province (11), Capiz (4), Antique and Iloilo City (3 each), and Aklan and Guimaras provinces (1 each).