Motorbike-riding men kill cop, attack Chinese family

MANILA, Philippines - A policeman was killed and a Chinese family was shot by motorcycle-riding attackers in Pasay only hours apart, an official said yesterday.

At around 9 a.m. yesterday, Police Officer 2 Ali Botal of the Caraga police was riding a motorcycle when he was shot near the intersection of Legaspi and Aurora streets, according to Southern Police District director Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte.

One attacker was waiting for Botal, a former intelligence operative, at the intersection and ran toward a motorcycle driven by an accomplice after the shooting.

Less than 12 hours earlier, two men on a motorcycle blocked a Chinese family’s Hyundai van along Andrews Avenue at around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.    

The back rider then shot at the family, hitting businessman Minjiang Sy, 48, in the chest and arm and wounding his wife, Kim Sham Hong, 43, in the head and back. Sy, who was driving the van, and his family had come from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Their two children – Jai Mae, 20; and Wesley, 6 – were unhurt.

Villacorte said the Pasay City police coordinated with the Chinese embassy to get the victims’ statements.

Reduced cases

Meanwhile, National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Carmelo Valmoria lauded the NCRPO’s five district directors yesterday for the significant drop in cases involving motorcycle-riding criminals in Metro Manila for the month of January.

He urged local government units to donate vehicles, especially motorcycles, and residents to report the presence of suspicious-looking individuals in their neighborhoods.

Valmoria had credited the deployment of police officers on motorcycles for the decrease, but did not cite specific figures. – With Non Alquitran