A woman included in the “top ten†watch list of drug personalities in the town of Clarin was shot dead in broad daylight yesterday.
The victim, identified as Alma “Madame†Sabejon, 42 and a resident of Sitio Lagsing, Brgy Bacani in Clarin, was reportedly on her way home onboard a motor scooter when two motorcycle-riding men shot her.
According to witnesses, Sabejon was still able to run and ask for help but the suspects shot her in the back.
While with gunshot wounds, the victim still tried to escape and went inside a commuter bus but the gunmen followed and finished her off with a headshot.
The victim sustained five gunshot wounds scattered throughout her body which caused her death, police said.
The suspects immediately fled the crime scene after the shooting while witnesses were unable to notice which direction they went.
Police said that the gunmen’s faces were covered with cloth concealing their identities from the witnesses.
Bus passengers who saw the incident also said that the motorcycle of the suspects had no plate number.
Police were able to recover three spent shells fired from a .45 caliber handgun and two from a 9mm pistol.
According to PO1 Jayson Sentino of the Clarin police, Sabejon was a longtime illegal drug financier.
The victim was also a suspected drug pusher and user, he said.
Sabejon was subjected to Oplan Tokhang as police and barangay officials tried to convince her to end her involvement in illegal drug activities, but Sentino said that the victim did not heed the authorities’ call.
Sentino added that Sabejon appeared to be the only woman in the town involved in illegal drug activities who remained unafraid even when drug suspects started to fall across the province as she allegedly continued involvement in drug crimes.
Police are considering the victim’s drug involvement as one of the angles behind the killing, noting a possible rift between Sabejon and her supplier caused by debt. (with reports from Allen Doydora)