Police asset slain in Navotas

MANILA, Philippines - A 28-year-old police informant was shot dead while a Grade 5 pupil was wounded when two men riding in tandem on board a motorcycle shot the victims in Navotas last Saturday morning.

Aldrin Alcantara, who was the target of the assassins, died on the spot from several gunshot wounds in the body, while the boy who was not immediately identified was rushed to the Tondo Medical Center after he was hit on the forehead.

According to investigators, Alcantara was sitting in front of the Dagat-Dagatan Elementary School along Maya-Maya street near North Bay Boulevard South at around 10:15 a.m. waiting for his four-year-old son when the suspects arrived and shot him.

The other victim, who was at a nearby store, was also hit by a stray bullet.

Police Officer 3 Leonardo Merlin of the Criminal Investigation Detective Group, who lives in the neighborhood, saw the incident and fired back at the suspects.

Some witnesses said the back rider was hit but the motorcycle-riding suspects escaped.

No one got the license plate number of the motorcycle but the Navotas police are trying to determine if there were closed-circuit television cameras in the area.

Alcantara’s former partner told probers that the victim was a police asset, which could have been the reason why he was killed.