Police informant shot dead in Malabon

MANILA, Philippines - A police informant was shot dead by three unidentified men in Malabon City before dawn yesterday.

Alexander Clemente, 31, also a resident of Malabon, died from a gunshot wound in the head at around 1:30 a.m. along Sitio 6 in Barangay Catmon.

Sources said Clemente, who passed himself off as a taho vendor, had just alighted from a passenger jeepney with two buckets of taho (a sweet snack using soft tofu) when the three men approached him as he was entering Sitio 6.

One of the men shot Clemente pointblank in the head, killing him on the spot. The men then walked back to the shantytown in the area after the shooting.

Residents said Clemente was observed selling taho near a haven of suspected drug pushers in Sitio 6 for the past five days. They said his killers may have found out about his real objective of gathering information about the proliferation of illegal drugs in the area.

Police said that Sitio 6 in Barangay Catmon, a known haven of criminals, is a “very dangerous” place for those who are not residents of the area.