Cops vs cops: 3 killed in shootout

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Three policemen were killed in a shootout with fellow officers along the national highway in Barangay Banlic in Cabuyao, Laguna yesterday afternoon.

Senior Superintendent Mark Edison Belarma, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief, said the slain men — Police Officers 1 Sigmund Allan Jael, Roland Patag and Michael Aguado — were engaged in extortion.

They were all assigned at the Calabarzon police force, he added.

Police said Jael had a pending case involving drugs in Quezon province.

Aguado was facing an administrative case and Patag was detained at Camp Vicente Lim, he added.

Belarma said at about 3:15 p.m. the Regional Special Operations Group under Superintendent Roger James Brillantes encountered the three who were on motorcycles in Barangay Banlic.

The suspects were planning to extort money from a businessman in Cabuyao when they were killed, he added.

Police are investigating the killing.–With Arnell Ozaeta