Manhunt on for cop tagged in attack on Tsinoy family

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Police District (MPD) has formed teams to hunt down and arrest a rookie policeman identified as one of four men who shot three members of a Filipino-Chinese family in Binondo, Manila last Jan. 11, an official said yesterday.

MPD director Chief Superintendent Alex Gutierrez said police teams from the District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit, the homicide section and the Meisic police station are on the trail of Police Officer 1 Ernesto Binayug, assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office.

“He is armed and dangerous, that’s why I directed my men to take extra precaution in arresting PO1 Binayug,” Gutierrez told The STAR.

Binayug is a cousin of Senior Inspector Joselito Binayug, who gained notoriety after he was caught on video torturing a robbery suspect at a precinct in Manila.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim issued a “shoot to kill” order against Binayug after he was positively identified from footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera installed in one of the buildings along Lavezares street in Binondo, where members of the Hsu family were gunned down following an aborted rob try.   

Heidi Hsu, 28, died while her brother Herbert, 24, and father Tony, 67, were seriously injured in the shooting.

The Hsu siblings had closed their store in Divisoria and were on their way home to Lavezares street in Binondo when they were blocked by four men, including Binayug, riding on two motorcycles.

With drawn guns, the suspects announced the heist, but the siblings tried to put up a fight and were shot, allegedly by Binayug. Their father came out of the house but was also shot.

Homicide section chief Senior Inspector Joey de Ocampo said a witness also identified Binayug and a certain “Mac” as the ones who reportedy attacked the Hsu family.

Binayug has gone AWOL (absent without official leave) after learning he had already been identified, De Ocampo said.

“I have received surrender feelers from his parents, but until now PO1 Binayug remains in hiding from the law,” he told The STAR.