Aides of Malonzo and Echiverri in near shootout

Barely 10 months before the 2004 elections, politics is heating up in Caloocan City as a near shootout involving armed security aides of City Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo and District 1 Rep. Enrico Echiverri erupted shortly after midnight yesterday.

The incident, the third near bloody clash since January between Malonzo and Echiverri’s men, happened at the birthday party of City Councilor Gualberto Bacolod, who was reportedly being wooed by the two officials.

Malonzo and Echiverri were former close friends and political allies for a decade until Malonzo pushed Gigi Emnace, his longtime partner, to be the next Caloocan City mayor.

Echiverri, Lakas city chairman and now on his second term in Congress, has parted ways with Malonzo on the issue.

The police, however, failed to give adequate information about the incident to the media. Officers at the Sub-station 3 said they do not know of any such incident while top city police officials, who requested anonymity, begged to be excused when asked who were involved.

There was also no official police report and the incident was not recorded in the police blotter, The STAR was told.

The near shootout incident allegedly developed as Malonzo threatened to file criminal and administrative charges against one of Echiverri’s security aide for an alleged plan to kill him.

Echiverri, who has chosen to be quiet and let the event and his witnesses speak for themselves, said the mayor must be hallucinating and has become afraid of his real threat.

Russel Fernandez, Echiverri’s chief-of-staff, told The STAR that Malonzo started the fight when he allegedly confronted Echiverri’s security aide, Mocel Quilinguin, and asked his men to disarm him.

Malonzo, for his part said he caught Quilinguin giving him the "bad eye" so he asked him why he was carrying a gun when it was illegal to bring it to such a place.

Fernandez said some 50 plainclothes security aides, uniformed police, city hall’s public safety men and barangay tanods variously armed with handguns and assault rifles scrambled to their vans to get their weapons at the first sign of trouble.

Malonzo denied this saying he had no such big army. He said he was unarmed and had only two security men at the party.

In the ensuing melee, three of Echiverri’s men, identified as William Chiu, Teddy Baylon and a certain "Epok," were injured and taken to the nearby Dr. Jose Rodriguez Hospital (formerly Tala Leprosarium) for treatment.