Bounty offered for cop killers

A P100,000 reward is being offered for information that will lead to the arrest of six men who shot and killed a veteran Manila policeman in broad daylight Wednesday in Ermita, Manila.

Mayor Lito Atienza offered the reward as he condemned the brazen killing of Senior Police Officer 2 Jess Valera, 52, detailed at the theft and robbery section of the Manila Police District, according to MPD acting director Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa.

"I condemn the death of our policeman. The criminal elements used their numbers to their advantage," Atienza said in a statement.

Abarzosa has formed a task force of investigators, dubbed "Task Force Valera," composed of four crack teams headed by Senior Superintendent Edgar Danao, chief of the MPD’s intelligence and investigation division.

The four teams are headed by Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit chief Superintendent Eduardo Sierra, Homicide Section head Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr., Theft and Robbery Section commander Chief Inspector Dominador Arevalo Jr. and Ermita police station chief Superintendent Rogelio Rosales.

The task force has already made a significant discovery which could lead to the early solution of the slaying, according to one of the team chiefs.

A witness has reportedly identified one of the gunmen from police file photos. No other details were provided to the media to avoid jeopardizing the hunt for the assailants.

Officer-on-case PO3 Paul Dennis Javier said Valera was patrolling the southbound lane of Taft Avenue when he heard successive gunshots at around 1 p.m.

He rushed to the scene and found that a gunman and an accomplice on board a motorcycle had ambushed money exchange dealer Leoncio Bernardo, who was then in the driver’s seat of a Toyota Corolla.

Valera exchanged fire with the gunman, but four more gunmen riding in tandem on two motorcycles joined in the firefight. When it was over, a bloodied Valera was slumped on the pavement. He was rushed to the Philippine General Hospital but died along the way from a gunshot wound on the right side of the body.

Responding policemen failed to catch up with the suspects who sped away towards the direction of Ayala Bridge.

Sheilon Apo, 27, a seaman from Imus, Cavite, took a stray bullet in the chest while on board a passenger bus. He is now recuperating at the Manila Doctors Hospital.

Arevalo said Valera was one of several plainclothes police operatives he has deployed along Taft Avenue to go after muggers, snatchers and robbers.

Abarzosa said the MPD is now preparing a hero’s burial for their slain colleague. — Nestor Etolle, Evelyn Macairan