Cop, shot by 2 toughies, dies

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City policeman who was shot by two neighborhood toughies in Pasig City Monday died in a hospital yesterday.

Police Officer 2 Jayson Cueto, a member of the Quezon City Police District Station 8, succumbed to a gunshot wound in the head at the Rizal Medical Center, said Pasig police chief Senior Superintendent Jose Hidalgo Jr.

Hidalgo said they are readying murder charges against Datu Mandog Boratong and one alias “Itlog” for the death of Cueto.

Police also filed homicide charges against Cueto’s elder brother, Police Officer 3 Reynante Cueto, who accidentally killed a two-year-old girl when he fired his gun indiscriminately in a fit of anger after learning of the attack on his brother.

Hidalgo said the elder Cueto has not reported for duty at the Police Security and Protection Group at Camp Crame since Monday. The lawman is said to be a bodyguard of a retired police general.

Police probers have yet to establish the motive for the killing of the younger Cueto.

He was helping his mother prepare dumplings she would sell when the two suspects arrived and shot him at close range.