Prison official slain in Bilibid

MANILA, Philippines - A prison official was shot dead as he was driving out of his home in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) reservation in Muntinlupa City yesterday morning.

Francisco Abonales, former superintendent of the Sablayan penal colony in Occidental Mindoro, “was driving his (Mitsubishi) Pajero out from his garage at around 8 a.m. when the gunman suddenly appeared and shot the victim several times,” Muntinlupa police chief Senior Superintendent Eduardo Vega told The STAR.

A son of Abonales, armed with a 9mm pistol, rushed out of the house as the unidentified gunman – and at least one companion – sped away on a motorcycle. “The son fired but missed the suspects,” Vega said.

The 62-year-old victim died at the Medical Center Muntinlupa an hour later from gunshot wounds in his chest and stomach. The bullets were from a .45 caliber pistol.

Abonales’ family declined to grant interviews yesterday. “Please, we are still in a state of shock. We cannot say anything,” a relative said.

Southern Police District director Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte said though the crime happened in the NBP reservation, the police are taking the lead in the investigation while the Department of Justice, which oversees the country’s prisons through the Bureau of Corrections, can conduct a parallel probe.

An NBP source said Abonales was relieved from his post at the penal colony after a high-profile drug lord was killed in the colony’s public market in June.