BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Jennifer Mercader, a suspected drug lord in Cebu, was killed yesterday in a shootout with policemen in Purok 8, Barangay Minoyan, Murcia, Negros Occidental.
The 39-year-old Mercader was a former barangay captain of Lugo in the municipality of Borbon, Cebu.
Murcia police chief Lieutenant John Paul Tabujara said Mercader was arrested in March of 2018 for charges involving illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms.
However in May of 2019, Mercader escaped the Medelin District Jail in Cebu and fled to Negros Occidental.
Tabujara said Mercader hid in the town’s Barangay Alegria and later transferred to Barangay Minoyan after he got word that the police were monitoring him.
In August of this year, Mercader was also the subject of an entrapment operation by the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) in Barangay Pahanocoy, which resulted in the death of a drug personality and the arrest of seven others. Mercader managed to escape during the operation.
Policemen later were able to track down Mercader’s whereabouts in Barangay Minoyan.
When authorities attempted to make the arrest, the suspect allegedly opened fire.
The arresting team – composed of operatives from Police Regional Office 6 and 7 along with the Murcia municipal police station and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – returned fire at the suspect, which later resulted in his death.
Aside from drug-related activities, Tabujara said Mercader was also tagged a “serial killer” in Cebu, adding that his chicken farm in the said town was only a front to hide his illegal drug activities in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City./PN
