Skyler’s ‘killer’ nabbed in buy bust
A high-value target identified as one of the suspects in the killing of four-year-old Skyler Bladen Abatayo was arrested in a buy-bust operation at 3:45 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Guadalupe.
The suspect is Ronald “Bulldog” Mejias, 30, a resident of Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita. He was nabbed along with his girlfriend, Melanie Villarino, 22, and a cohort, Melvin Daclan, 31.
Mejias was arrested after an undercover cop successfully bought a sachet of shabu from him.
He yielded 28.5 grams of shabu worth P193,000, a .45 caliber pistol and five live ammunitions.
Police Major Regino Maramag Jr., the chief of Pardo Police Station, said that the arrest of Mejias and two others was a result of a follow up operation after their arrested drug personality identified Mejias as his supplier.
Maramag said former Carbon Police Station chief Police Major John Kareem Escober informed them that Mejias was one of the suspects that they are tracking down since July last year for the death of Abatayo.
To recall, Abatayo was killed after he was hit by a stray bullet when Mejias and his cohorts shot it out with cops and ran away.
Escober told The FREEMAN that Mejias is included in the cases they filed for illegal drugs and homicide.
Maramag added that Mejias is a freelance gun-for-hire. He has a big boss that also supplies him illegal drugs.
He said that after the incident in Sitio Bato that killed Abatayo. Mejias and his girlfriend transferred to Sitio Sto. Niño, Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe.
They are temporarily detained in Pardo Police Station pending filing of charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002 and the Republic Act 10591 the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition.
Maramag said the .45 pistol recovered from Mejias will undergo a ballistic examination.
“His firearm will be subject to a ballistic examination to help in the case on Abatayo,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents and relatives of Abatayo do not believe that Mejias was the one who took the little boy's life.
Abatayo's grandmother who asked not to be named said everyone in their neighborhood knows who the real killer is but chose to keep quiet to avoid conflict with the police.
Most of the residents and relatives believe that it was one of the police who accidentally hit the boy.
"Ila (referring to the police) man gud ang gobyerno gud," one of the residents commented. (The government is on their side.)
Residents of Sitio Bato, as well as the relatives of the victim, pleaded to hide their identities for their own safety and security.
The boy's parents, Gwynn Shanieka Capuno and Marc Anthony Abatayo, already moved to Manila after the boy was laid to rest.
They will no longer come back to Cebu as their house was burned down during the Ermita fire last February.
"Gitugyan na nako sa Ginoo ang tanan. Wala ko naglagot sa nakapusil sa akong apo, sa nakasala sa akong apo, ug si kinsa man gani. Ang Ginoo ra'y mahibaw sa tanan," the 50-year-old grandmother told The FREEMAN. (I have entrusted everything to God. I'm not mad at the one who killed my son. God will take care of everything.)