Police to summon slain Batangas vice mayor's escorts

MANILA, Philippines - Two police escorts of slain Talisay, Batangas Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr. are in hot water for allegedly not “acting accordingly” during his shooting in Pasay City last Friday, a police official said yesterday.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Alan Purisima said the two policemen also face administrative charges if they fail to show any authority to escort Manimtim outside Batangas.

Purisima refused to identify the two policemen from the Batangas Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) pending summons from the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG).

The two policemen along with two civilians served as Manimtim's escorts when he was ambushed after meeting with his election lawyer at a restaurant in Pasay City.

Purisima said reports reaching his office show that the two policemen, who were armed and wearing their uniforms, did not chase the gunman, who just walked towards a waiting motorcycle and escaped towards EDSA.

“We are looking into the authority of these two policemen in securing Manimtim since they are not from the PSPO (Police Security and Protection Office) but from the Batangas PSPC,” he said.

He said the two policemen were not authorized to secure Manimtim outside Batangas.

 “There is a lesson learned from Vice Mayor Manimtim’s case here. VIPs should seek security protection from the PSPO because the policemen there are trained for the job,” he said.

“They may get the bravest among their policemen in their areas but the problem is they don’t know how to react properly in a given situation like a shooting incident,” he said.

Under the law, VIPs with threats to their lives have to request for security with the PSPO in Camp Crame.

Manimtim, who survived an ambush try in Batangas last August, can seek police protection.

Task Force Manimtim head, Senior Superintendent Federico Castro, meanwhile, said the two policemen were waiting for Manimtim in the parking lot when the vice mayor was ambushed.

Castro said a closed-circuit television camera caught the shooting incident but the footage was “not clear enough.”

He said they are now working closely with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to have the footage “cleared” for them to identify the gunman and have him arrested.

Castro said he would summon Manim­tim’s police escorts this week.