Lomibao's kin say grandnephew's shooting not accidental

The camp of the slain grandnephew of former Philippine National Police chief General Arturo Lomibao yesterday said the shooting was not an accident and that the policeman really intended to harm him and his companions.

Victor Rodillas, 29, who survived after being shot in the nape, debunked the claim of Police Officer 3 Melanio Donato and said the policeman aimed at the slain Hector Allan Lomibao Sarmiento before poking the gun at him and companion Marlon Sanchez, 18.

Sarmiento, 24, died on the spot while Rodillas and Sanchez were injured.

Rodillas, who still had a brace to support his neck as he talked to reporters yesterday, also belied the claim of Donato that their group ganged up on the policeman as he tried to handcuff Sarmiento.

Last Sunday, Donato, who had a black eye, claimed his service firearm accidentally went off when Rodillas and Sanchez allegedly ganged up on him as Sarmiento purportedly tried to grab his service firearm.

But Rodillas had a different story: “How could we gang up on him (Donato)? We were just three and he had at least five village watchmen with him.”

Donato, of the Quezon City Police District-Station 7, and the village watchmen of Barangay Kaunlaran responded to a brawl involving Sarmiento’s group outside a bar at past midnight last Sunday.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection, said Lomibao called them up yesterday morning about the case.

“He (former PNP chief) wants to see to it that there’s no whitewash (in the investigation) and that the truth will come out,” Mabanag told reporters.

The mother of the slain victim is a niece of the former PNP chief.