4 holdupmen meet bloody end

BUGALLON, Pangasinan — Four holdupmen and two policemen were killed and three other lawmen were wounded in a hot pursuit that started late Sunday afternoon in a nearby town and ended here early yesterday morning.

Senior Superintendent Arturo Cacdac Jr., provincial police director, identified the slain policemen as PO3s Joel de la Cruz and Eduardo Fernandez, of Aguilar and Bugallon towns, respectively

Wounded were Special Action Force (SAF) members Senior Inspector Jonathan Calixto, who was hit in the right arm; PO1 Val Pablo, who sustained a gunshot wound in the leg; and PO3 Harola Dalmacio, who is in critical condition for a bullet wound in the abdomen.

The four slain holdupmen remained unidentified. Probers were unsure whether they belonged to the so-called "Bagis gang," whose 11 members were killed in a shootout in Alcala town last year.

The four suspects, who were on board a Toyota Corolla, initially held up and killed a tricycle driver, a certain Edwin Ignacio, in San Carlos City.

At about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police received a report that the suspects flagged down a Mitsubishi Adventure, being driven by a daughter of Art Magalong, director of the Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative.

Luckily, Magalong’s daughter managed to jump out of the vehicle, which the suspects then commandeered.

The suspects proceeded to Urbiztondo. But upon reaching Barangay Duplac, they saw policemen manning a checkpoint. This prompted them to grab another vehicle, a Mitsubishi Galant, from one Benilda Valerio whom they also robbed of P25,000 cash.

The suspects drove toward Mangatarem and Aguilar towns. Upon reaching the junction, they felt lost and asked for directions for going to Manila.

Given the wrong directions, they found themselves approaching a police checkpoint in Aguilar town. A hot pursuit ensued, with the suspects nearly cornered at a roadblock in this town.

But the suspects shot it out with the pursuing lawmen, killing De la Cruz in the process. They abandoned their vehicles and commandeered a tricycle, proceeding to Barangay Cabayaoasan here where they hid in the house of one Fernando Grado, who fortunately was not around.

At about 5 p.m. Sunday, lawmen tried to barge into Grado’s house, but the suspects fired at them, fatally hitting Fernandez.

The area was cordoned off, while the local police waited for reinforcements from the Special Action Force based in Bicutan, Taguig.

Cacdac said they gave the suspects a chance to surrender peacefully. But instead of heeding this, the suspects shot it out with the lawmen.

"We had to employ superior force, superior weapons… They were determined (to fight it out). They were highly violent men," said Chief Superintendent Arturo Lomibao, regional police director.

The renewed firefight lasted for more than 10 minutes, until 6:30 a.m. yesterday. The four suspects lay dead, while Calixto, Dalmacio and Pablo sustained injuries.

Found in the suspects’ possession were a baby Armalite, two caliber .45 pistols, a carbine, a 9mm pistol and an M-16 Armalite rifle. Their getaway car yielded a shotgun and several car plates.