IT is a silent edifice in the middle of Calamba Cemetery, painted in blue and gold with mosaic windows like that of a chapel.
It is the mausoleum of Cebu’s biggest drug lord, Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, who was killed by operatives in an alleged shootout in Las Piñas City.
Four women visited the grave and left roses there. Diaz was considered in Barangay Duljo-Fatima as a Robin Hood figure, ready to help his neighbors during emergencies, like fires.
The mausoleum’s wrought iron gate was padlocked, but one could peek at the tiled floor and marble chairs, which give it the look of a holding area.
Last June 17, operatives from the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) and the Regional Intelligence Branch (RID) flew to the National Capital Region to serve a warrant of arrest on Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, who was under surveillance by the Las Piñas police.
Barok was allegedly sighted with Diaz in the surveillance. During the operation, police flagged down the drug lord’s vehicle on a street in Metro Manila.
Diaz allegedly shot it out with the 20 operatives. He was killed.
In the morning of June 28, 2,500 people, mostly from Barangay Duljo-Fatima, attended Diaz’s funeral.
They wore black shirts printed with Diaz’s face and the the words “Jeffrey ‘Jaguar’ Diaz, we will miss you” in front and the words “We love you” at the back.
It was a close-casket funeral with a marching band.
Yesterday, the gate remained locked as more women arrived to light candles.
Other visitors arrived and offered flowers.
Diaz’s tomb is clean and well-kept. But there were no relatives present, only Duljo-Fatima residents with flowers.
The Calamba cemetery is one of the biggest cemeteries in Cebu City. It houses some of the drug suspects who were killed in the government’s fight against illegal drugs.