2 women slain in Quiapo; botched drug deal eyed

MANILA, Philippines – Two women were gunned down in Quiapo, Manila Thursday night and police officers believe the attack may be linked to a drug deal gone sour.

Mercedita Calape, 32, and Irene Quinto, 41, were walking along Gonzalo Puyat street at around 5:30 p.m. when an assailant approached them from behind and shot them in the head.

Calape died at the scene while Quinto died while undergoing surgery at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

Closed-circuit television footage showed the victims came from the Barbosa area, crossed a footbridge toward Raon and were shot by a man who wore a baseball cap, Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan, a homicide investigator, said.

He said he recovered a bag full of slips of paper cut to imitate wads of cash, Calape’s identification card, and two mobile phones with an exchange of messages between them and “Ryan.”

The women were supposed to meet Ryan at a restaurant along Quezon Boulevard but changed their plans when they saw police officers patrolling the area, said Senior Inspector Rommel Anicete, Manila Police District homicide chief.

He said the victims may be police informants and the other party learned that the transaction was a trap. 

Layugan, however, said the MPD Station 3 denied that it staged an operation at the time and if the transaction was staged by police officers outside the MPD, there was no coordination. 

Meanwhile, the MPD will ask the assistance of the Caloocan police to verify Quinto’s identity after its investigators learned that an alleged con artist arrested in Caloocan several weeks ago closely resembled the victim.

Layugan said the victims’ relatives refused to cooperate in the investigation. – Rey Galupo, Ghio Ong