ILOILO City – Illegal gun possession. Illegal drug possession. Attempted murder.
These charges were filed against the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) secretary of Sara, Iloilo whom the police subjected to a buy-bust operation on Friday.
James “Jaguar” Balsomo III’s confinement at a hospital for gunshot wounds on the chest had not deterred the police from filing the complaints at the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday.
The 50-year-old Balsomo is currently at the intensive care unit of the Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital (not The Medical City as previously reported), according to Police Major Jonathan Pinuela, chief of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) that carried out the buy-bust.
Balsomo was shot on the chest by the police thrice. He put up a fight, according to Pinuela.
The SB secretary should not expect any help from the local government of Sara for his string of charges.
Mayor Jon Aying said over the weekend he could not promise assistance to municipal officials and employees in drug cases.
“Pag-abot sa drugs, kon kamo magkasala indi gid kita makahatag bulig,” he said.
Pinuela said Balsomo was a high-value drug suspect with alleged links to the Balume group, a subgroup of the Odicta drug group operating in northern Iloilo.
“Ang sitwasyon ni SB secretariat Balsomo is a police action. I don’t think kinahanglan mag-intervene ang local government,” said Aying, a retired Philippine Army General.
The buy-bust against Balsomo took place in Barangay Antonio Yusay, Sara. A PDEU asset purchased a big sachet of shabu for P50,000, said Pinuela.
Balsomo pulled out a .45 pistol and fired it upon realizing he was being entrapped but failed to hit the asset, said the PDEU chief.
Policemen on standby shot Balsomo.
On Oct. 17 last year, Balsomo was a subject of a house raid for alleged unlicensed guns but the police found none.
A year before that, on Aug. 17, 2017 PDEU and the Special Weapons and Tactics team of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office searched his house. Balsomo was not around but cops recovered a
grenade, 39 empty bullet shells of a .45 pistol, assorted live ammunitions, four packs of dried marijuana leaves, and empty plastic sachets./PN
