9 cops, 2 watchmen detained over Mandaluyong shooting

MANILA, Philippines — A city prosecutor has ordered the detention of nine policemen, two barangay watchmen and four others involved in the shooting incident in Mandaluyong City last Thursday that left two people dead and two others wounded.

City prosecutor Arnold Magpantay ordered the 14 people detained at the lockup of the Mandaluyong police pending issuance of his resolution on Jan. 3, according to Police Supt. Enrique Agtarap, acting police chief of Mandaluyong City.

Agtarap on Sunday filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in double homicide against Police Officer 2 Lawemuel Songalia; Police Officers 1 Ariel Uribe, Jave Arellano, Tito Danao, Mark Castillo, Julius Libuen, Bryan Nicolas, Albert Buwag and Kim Rufford Tibunsay; and barangay watchmen Wilmer Duron and Gilbert Gulpo.

Agtarap said barangay watchmen Ernesto Fajardo is not included in the charge sheet because he will serve as government witness, while Gulpo is still at large.

Also charged with alarm and scandal and physical injuries are construction workers Murey Hamon, Jemar Altin and Romeo Resureccion.

The charges against Hamon, Altin and Resureccion will be amended if it is found out that they are responsible for the deaths of Jonalyn Ambaan and Jomar Hayawon.

Ambaan was shot in the head by a group led by a certain Abdurakman Alfin while she was trying to mediate a quarrel at a construction site in Addition Hills at about 10:20 p.m. last Thursday.

The shooting of Ambaan stemmed from a quarrel over parking space.

When Ambaan was being rushed to hospital, responding policemen and barangay watchmen mistook the white Mitsubishi Adventure being driven by Santiago that was carrying Ambaan as a getaway vehicle. They opened fired at the utility van.

Ambaan died in the hospital while Hayawon died at the scene. Ambaan’s live-in partner Eliseo Aluad and driver Danilo Santiago were wounded.

The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Shaw is determining whether Ambaan was already dead when the policemen and watchmen opened fire at the white Mitsubishi Adventure carrying Ambaan.

Ambaan, Hamon, Altin, Resureccion and four other policemen tested positive for gunpowder burns.

Investigators are waiting for the result of Ambaan’s autopsy conducted by the crime laboratory of the Eastern Police District and the reports on the ballistic examination and trajectory of the bullets on the Mitsubishi Adventure.

“There are 36 bullets holes in the vehicle and 36 spent shells recovered at the crime scene. The crime laboratory had to process every piece of them and it would take a long time,” said Senior Supt. Florendo Quibuyen, head of SITG Shaw.

But National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde has relieved and disarmed the policemen involved in the shooting incident.

Albayalde also ordered the administrative relief of Senior Supt. Moises Villaceran, the local police chief, now being investigated by the NCRPO’s Regional Internal Affairs Service.

Quibuyen said Senior Insp. Maria Cristina Vasquez, commander of the Police Community Precinct 1 in Barangay Addition Hills, is not among those detained because she failed to appear during the filing of charges at the prosecutor’s office. Vasquez is at large but she is among those charged in the case.