Cops, soldiers trade shots over traffic tiff; 2 killed

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — It began with a report about a vehicular accident, and ended with an exchange of gunfire that left two men dead.

At about 5:45 p.m. Monday, SPO1s Armando Demejas and Jerryson Laguras of the San Pablo City police got a call for help over a traffic mishap.

Responding in Barangay Sto. Anghel, the cops’ patrol car, however, accidentally bumped a pick-up truck whose five occupants, clad in shorts and some without shirts, were apparently drunk.

A heated argument ensued between the two cops and the five men who turned out to be Army soldiers belonging to Task Force Banahaw based in San Pablo.

Shots rang out, and one of the soldiers, a certain Sgt. Cerdenia, was killed on the spot.

Laguras escaped, leaving behind Demejas whom Cerdenia’s colleagues took at gunpoint and brought to their camp.

The local police followed them, hoping to get back Demejas alive. But they instead found him dead, with a fractured skull and disfigured mouth and other signs of torture.

A task force has been formed to investigate the incident. — Arnell Ozaeta, Jaime Laude and Rene Alviar