Ex-councilman in Nicole’s neighborhood shot dead'

MANILA, Philippines - A former councilman was killed when he responded to a gun battle in the neighborhood of stray bullet victim Stephanie Nicole Ella yesterday afternoon.

Yusop Dumato, 52, was shot around 400 meters away from Ella’s house in Barangay 188, Caloocan City.

Barangay watchman Dennis Borja said Dumato had just woken up at around 2 p.m. when barangay officials received a complaint about a gang war at the “pabahay (housing)” area. Dumato took his jacket and .45 caliber pistol and called three other watchmen. They boarded the barangay’s tricycle, which did not have a roof, and proceeded to the site.

Before reaching the site of the gang war, Borja said tricycle drivers called their attention to a gun battle on Sta. Rita street, several meters away from the pabahay area. Dumato allegedly decided to respond to the gun battle instead of the gang war, but before he could enter the area, four men on two motorcycles shot at them, Borja said.

Watchman Ronald Cauba, who accompanied Dumato, said only the former councilman was hit because he was the only one standing in the tricycle. The rest were able to duck and jump off the vehicle, he said.

Dumato – who suffered gunshot wounds in the head, genitals, left leg, right calf, waist and left arm – was declared dead on arrival at the Dr. Jose Rodriguez Hospital. As a Muslim, his body was not autopsied but police investigators took his fingerprints.

At a mosque on Dumato street, the former councilman’s widow, Carmelita, 51, sat beside her slain husband’s body, which was wrapped in a yellow blanket and placed on a folding bed. As part of their religious tradition, his body will be washed before it is buried within 24 hours after death.

Carmelita said she is just waiting for their two children to come home from work before burying Dumato.

In 2009, Dumato was taken into police custody after he worked for the release of a trader arrested for drug pushing. Dumato told police some relatives of Saidamen Barambangan Alala approached him for assistance.