Asistio son shot in drug bust

A son of Caloocan Rep. Luis "Baby" Asistio was critically wounded in a reported shootout with police detectives in Caloocan City early yesterday morning.

Luis "Piting" Asistio III, 32, was fighting for his life at the Chinese General Hospital in Manila until late yesterday.

He was shot in the chest during a reported drug buy-bust operation in front of his apartment on Labahita street in Dagat-Dagatan.

Asistio's live-in partner, Rosario Ortega, 31, who was with him during the shootout, was also wounded in the chest. She is also confined at the Chinese General Hospital.

Congressman Asistio, who is known to be a member of the President's so-called "midnight Cabinet" of close friends, said in a telephone interview that he had asked police officials to investigate "the derogatory information" about Piting.

"However, I did not tell them to gun down my son," he said. "It goes without saying that he should go through legal processes if he is ever arrested."

Two of Piting's Asistio alleged bodyguards, Jail Officer 1 Ricardo Garcia, and a civilian named Ronel Rivera were arrested.

Police said they seized from Asistio 214 grams of shabu worth P400,000, P3,000 in marked money, an unlicensed caliber .45 automatic, two tooters used to sniff shabu, and dried marijuana leaves, said Superintendent Francisco Villaroman, chief of the Central Luzon Criminal Investigation and Detective Group Office (CIDG).

Police said the shootout broke out after Piting drew his caliber .45 firearm during the entrapment operation when he discovered that he was dealing with undercover policemen.

Asistio said he made the request through separate letters to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Panfilo Lacson, Metro Manila police director Superintendent Edgar Aglipay, and Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr.

Aglipay admitted yesterday that Asistio had written him in which he was given permission to arrest any of Asistio's children who were found to be involved in illegal activities.

"He (Asistio) kept on reminding us that if ever his children will be involved in illegal activities, we should not hesitate to enforce the full force of the law," he said.

Villaroman said Piting had been under surveillance by the police for a long time, and that he had been tailed from Bulacan to his apartment in Caloocan.

Detectives led by Chief Inspector Rhodel Sermonia of the Bulacan CIDG posed as buyers and negotiated a drug deal with "Chinese-looking" men in Bulacan last Tuesday night, said Chief Inspector Rex dela Rosa, CIDG Northern Field Office chief.

He said the undercover policemen later agreed with the suspected drug dealers that they would finalize the transaction at Kaunlaran Village in Caloocan.

Before midnight, the detectives met with the suspects, who were aboard cars, at the corner of C-3 Road and A. Mabini street, also in Caloocan, he added.

Dela Rosa said the plainclothesmen then followed the suspects' cars until they had reached Quitang Alley, Labahita street in Kaunlaran Village, where Piting's apartment is located.

As the transaction was going on, Piting noticed something wrong with the buyers, and he drew his caliber .45 automatic and a brief firefight ensued, he added.

Police said Scene of the Crime Office men led by Senior Inspector Abraham Pelotin recovered eight shells and a magazine loaded with 10 bullets from a caliber .45 firearm.

Meanwhile, Asistio told The STAR that he has received numerous versions about the shootout, and that he was declining to make any comment until he has received an official report from the PNP.

However, sources told The STAR that no buy-bust operation had occurred prior to the shootout.

The detectives went to Piting's apartment to question him about the allegations of a suspect, who was earlier arrested in Pampanga, that Piting was the source of the shabu which police seized from the suspect, the sources said.

The sources said Sermonia, who led the detectives in the shootout, is an acquaintance of Piting, and that he has been a Caloocan police operative for a long time.

It was Sermonia who called on Piting to come out of his apartment, and that Ortega soon followed, sources added.

The sources said that when Piting saw the armed policemen with Sermonia, he became nervous and drew his gun, forcing some of the detectives to shoot.

However, Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, Caloocan police intelligence chief, insisted that the shootout occurred during an entrapment operation.

Pagdilao was unavailable for comment as of presstime, but Aglipay said the shootout was a legitimate police operation.

"What we established is that there is a proper coordination, that there was an encounter that happened," he said.

Police said Piting will be charged in court with illegal possession of firearm and direct assault, while drug possession will be the charge against the other suspects.

Piting was previously arrested for drug possession and illegal possession of firearm in Manila and Quezon City, police added. - With Mike Frialde, Non Alquitran