Rogue cop, 3 others nabbed in shootout

MANILA, Philippines - A policeman who has been declared absent without leave and three others were arrested after a brief shootout and a car chase with lawmen in Parañaque City Saturday, an official said yesterday.

Seven Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency uniforms and three firearms were seized from Police Officer 1 Khomenie Dacula, Marvin Winston Catalan, Omar Tarasan and Salvador Mamac.

Chief Superintendent Arrazad Subong, Highway Patrol Group (HPG) director, said Mamac died in a hospital early yesterday morning from gunshot wounds in his lower back, which he sustained during the shootout.

HPG police officers were conducting an anti-carjacking operation along Doña Soledad Avenue in Better Living Subdivision when they spotted four suspicious-looking men in a beige Toyota Altis (GMD-623), Subong said.

The HPG police officers followed the vehicle as they checked its plate number. When they found that the plate and the vehicle did not match, they flagged down the car and accosted its occupants.

Dacula, who was in a police athletic uniform, introduced himself as a police officer, the HPG agents said. As Dacula talked to the agents, the man seated beside him shot at PO2 Jessie Olpindo but missed, the HPG reported.

Dacula revved up the car and reportedly tried to run over PO1 Christian Ovasco, triggering a running gun battle. Dacula and Catalan were caught when their vehicle’s tire was hit, the HPG reported.

As the HPG police officers were processing the arrest of the two suspects, a taxi driver approached them and told them he dropped off two wounded men at the El Puentebello Subdivision in Parañaque.

The lawmen found Tarasan and Mamac in a house where they sought refuge. The two suspects were with Dacula during the shootout but managed to jump out of the vehicle, run and flag down a taxi.

The HPG said it is hunting down two men, known only as Romeo Bato and Bidong Mamon, who managed to evade arrest.