3 killed, cop stabbed in Caloocan

Three men were killed while a police officer was wounded when a drunken man went berserk in Caloocan City late Wednesday afternoon.

Station Intelligence and Investigation Division (SIID) chief Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo identified the suspect, who was himself gunned down by responding policemen, as Benjamin de la Vega, reportedly a neighborhood toughie, residing at 3rd Street, 11th Avenue, East Grace Park, Caloocan City.

Francisco Belarmino, 57, and his son Adrian, 23, occupants of a room being rented out by the suspect, succumbed to lone gunshot wounds each in the body when the suspect indiscriminately fired his 9 mm pistol in front of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) office in Caloocan. The two died at around six and 10 Wednesday night, respectively, while being treated at the Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital.

Declared in stable condition at the same hospital was Inspector Christopher Onella, Police Community Precinct 3 commander, who sustained a stab wound in the abdomen inflicted by de la Vega.

Investigation showed that suspect allegedly fired his gun indiscriminately at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of PLDT Caloocan, critically wounding the Belarminos. Alarmed residents called the police who immediately responded.

Onella, who personally led the team, gave chase when the suspect, who by then had been disarmed by Arnel Angeles, a PLDT employee and was being held by bystanders, managed to free himself and ran back to his house. As he entered the house, Onella was met by the suspect with a knife thrust to the abdomen. Seeing this, PO3 Reginald Tanghal opened fire, fatally hitting the suspect in the body.

Meanwhile, the Central Police District (CPD) said yesterday that the killings of two Chinese-Filipino businessmen in Quezon City were the result of a "family feud" among their respective relatives.

According to Senior Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, CPD-Central Investigation Unit chief, Filipino-Chinese traders Nelson Gabaldon, 32, and Ernesto Cheng-Vergara, 43, could be the victims of "killers hired by someone close to them."

Police said that Gabaldon’s stepmother Nida, 39, is the primary suspect in his death after it was learned that she allegedly falsified documents to obtain money from an insurance company after the victim’s father Santos, died in 1992.

Sources told The STAR that Nida was arraigned by a Regional Trial Court for her alleged falsifying of documents a few days before Gabaldon was ambushed by two armed men inside his car in front of his daughter’s school in Sto. Domingo, Quezon City.

CPD operatives are also skeptical over the death of Santos Gabaldon, Nida’s husband who perished five years ago in a "diving accident" in Cebu. Sources said that Gabaldon did not have "many enemies."

According to investigators, Nida has yet to shed light on her alleged involvement in the ambush of her stepson. Gabaldon was killed Tuesday morning inside his Mazda sedan (USU-501). The victim died on the spot while his wife Prudence was unhurt.

Gabaldon had just dropped off his daughter at the school and was about to drive-off when two men shot him repeatedly. – Jerry Botial and Matthew Estabillo