CEBU - A large party of mourners turned out for the funeral of an alleged top drug trafficker in Cebu City Monday afternoon.
Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz, who was killed in a shootout with policemen in Las Piñas City last week, was laid to rest after a requiem mass at the San Nicolas Parish in Cebu City.
Family members, friends and neighbors from Barangay Duljo-Fatima joined the funeral procession for Diaz.
Clad in black shirts bearing an image of Diaz's face, the mourners marched from the parish up to the Calamba Cemetery in V. Rama Avenue.
Village watchmen barred journalists from covering the requiem mass and from approaching the tomb of Diaz.
Police Regional Director Supt. Patrocinio Comendador said the barangay tanods should not have acted as private guards during the burial.
The village watchmen, meanwhile, explained that the family of the slain suspect asked them to prohibit media presence at the church and cemetery.
There were no uniformed police personnel near the church and the cemetery during the burial, but a police car was spotted while patrolling near the graveyard.
Diaz and his bodyguard were killed "as they were roaming around his eight safehouses" in Las Piñas City last June 17, according to Cebu City Tomas Osmeña.
Osmeña said Diaz's death in an alleged shootout disproved claims that he has retired from the drug trade.
Last month, Osmeña said he would reward policemen P50,000 for each criminal they kill and P5,000 for each one they wound.
The mayor-elect said government needed to crack down on criminals, especially in Cebu, which he claimed has become the "murder capital of the Philippines."
Osmeña's pronouncements, mirrored those of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who had vowed to mount a "bloody war" against criminals.
Source: ABS-CBN
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