5 dead in foiled slay try on Abra top cop

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Five armed men on board a Toyota Corona were slain in a reported foiled attack on an Abra-based police colonel and his men in Cagayan’s northern Lallo town last Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

The armed men, said to be guns-for-hire from Abra, were killed after they opened fire at the policemen led by Senior Superintendent Alexander Rafael, Abra police director, who tried to flag them down to verify their identities along the national highway in Barangay San Lorenzo, Lallo town.

Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director, said only two of the five slain men were identified as Michael Bermudez, 33, and Nomer Biendima, 30.

Rafael, who hails from Cagayan, has just been assigned as Abra police director, and initial reports indicated that the slay attempt on him could be job-related.

Rafael reportedly noticed that the Toyota Corona was the same vehicle that tailed him from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur to Allacapan town when he went home to Tuguegarao City last April 28.

Sensing something fishy, Rafael, who was on his way back to Abra via the Ilocos region aboard a Mitsubishi van on Tuesday, ordered his men to flag down the car.

However, Aplasca said, instead of stopping, the five men fired at Rafael’s group, triggering a shootout. 

Recovered from the five men were two baby Armalite rifles, a .45-caliber pistol, magazines and rounds of live ammunition, four cell phones and more than P6,000 cash, Aplasca said. – Charlie Lagasca, Raymund Catindig, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Artemio Dumlao