By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Negros Occidental believes that the two alleged members of the Divinagracia Drug Group who were recently killed in a gun battle with police and PDEA agents in Muntinlupa City over the weekend were only “newbies” in the group.

The operation also yielded at least 10 kilos of shabu with a market value of P68 million.

Agent “Bamboo,” an operative for PDEA-Negros Occidental, said the two suspects identified as Jordan Sabandal Abrigo and Jayvee De Guzman are new to the group. It also showed evidence that the drug group had expanded its operations outside of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.

Bamboo said 80 percent of the members of Divinagracia Drug Group in Negros Occidental have either already been killed or arrested, and at present, he revealed that they are monitoring several drug suspects in the province who have links to the drug group.

The PDEA agent’s statement also confirms an earlier statement made by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Guillermo Eleazar, wherein he disclosed that aside from Western Visayas, some of the illegal drugs from the Negrense drug group were reaching as far away as Mindanao.

Last week, Michael Divinagracia, the top most wanted drug suspect in Negros Occidental, was found dead in the town of Baras in Rizal province. The slain drug lord was believed to have been strangled to death with a steel wire, prior to being finished off with gunshots.

Divinagracia has a bounty on his head amounting to P500,000 and fled to Region IV-A in 2019.

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office is currently investigating as to whether or not the P68 million worth of drugs seized in Muntinlupa City was bound for the province, as the drug group is known to have actively smuggled their illicit substance via roll-on/roll-off ferries at the Batangas Port./DGB, WDJ