Iloilo town Comelec exec gunned down

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The 52-year-old election officer of Dumangas town in Iloilo was shot dead following an alleged traffic altercation at Molo district, this city, Sunday evening.

Police said the victim, Raymond Valera, of Barangay Tacas in Jaro district of this city, sustained a gunshot wound on his shoulder that pierced through his armpit. He died an hour after he was brought to the nearby hospital, The Medical City.

Valera’s assailant, Radnie delos Reyes, 37, who was a driver of Melvin Taxi (with body number 0538) and resident of Barangay Catiringban in Igbaras town of Iloilo, escaped after the killing.

Before the road rage started, Valera, who was living in with another partner, saw by chance his 11-year-old child of his estranged wife at a mall in Mandurriao district, this city. Driving his Isuzu Crosswind XT (license plate AMA-9798), Valera brought home the child to Villa Carolina in Arevalo district, also in this city.

On his way home, he got into a heated altercation with taxi driver Delos Reyes due to disagreements on overtaking of their vehicles. Initial information said Valera had pointed a gun on the taxi driver.

A closed circuit television footage taken at Barangay Fundidor in Molo, showed the taxi speeding off with Valera following it.

Chief Inspector Rio Maymay, chief of the Molo Police, said: “The CCTV even showed that Valera’s car was running at fast speed on the opposite lane. He almost bumped a passenger jeepney, which just maneuvered toward the road shoulder to avoid getting hit.”

In another CCTV footage taken at the intersection of Avanceña, Molo, the taxi was slowing down with Valera’s car inching toward it. It was then that the cabbie shot Valera.

Security guard Sonny Araiz, stationed at Caltex-Molo, told investigators two successive gun shots were first heard, and then he saw a taxi sped away and even passed by a police checkpoint, several hundred meters from the crime scene.

“We (at the station) heard the gunshots. Our policemen immediately checked and that’s when we know that a taxi was involved in the incident. We had to check the CCTV footage to see its body number,” Maymay explained.

A team from the Scene of the Crime Operatives later recovered slugs at the scene. Chief Inspector Hilarion Roga, of the SOCO, said they also recovered a .45-caliber pistol from inside Valera’s car, but it appeared to have not been fired.

The taxi was eventually found abandoned in front of the Tanza Cemetery, which is just several meters from the Melvin Taxi garage.

Ronnie Dionaldo, the taxi firm’s operation manager, said they have been calling Delos Reyes after learning of the incident, but he could not be reached through his phone.

Lawyer Edeljulio Romero, counsel of Melvin Taxi, also assured the police the company would fully cooperate in the investigation. “We asked Radnie (Delos Reyes) to surrender, but we want to keep our distance from this incident because the company has nothing to do with it. We want the company to be absolved of any liability because this is clearly Radnie’s own doing,” he said.

The lawyer further gave an assurance that the company’s owners, couple Melvin and Miriam Odicta, will help in solving the case. But he said “they don’t know much about delos Reyes like they do on other taxi drivers. Pero medyo temperamental ni siya kuno.”

It was gathered that delos Reyes started working with Melvin Taxi on 2008 upon the recommendation of another taxi driver. But he was just working as a substitute driver, mostly during Sundays.

Dionaldo, however, said delos Reyes lately worked only twice or even once a month. On the day before the incident, he reportedly arrived to get the taxi unit at around 8:00 a.m. Since he is allowed to drive the cab for a 24-hour period, he was expected to return it early Monday morning, but Dionaldo said he only got reports that the driver figured in a shooting incident.

Dionaldo added the company never heard reports earlier that its drivers were armed with guns while driving their units. After securing a gate pass, they are allowed to leave the garage, he said. (FREEMAN)