Jailguard in ‘narco-list’ gunned down

In Antique

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A 47-year-old jailguard with alleged link to illegal drugs was shot dead early evening of July 11 at San Jose, Antique.

Provincial Guard 1 (PG1) Jonathan Pava was driving his motorcycle and navigating an intersection 7:00 p.m. of Wednesday at Cerdeña Street, some 70 kilometers away from his house, when riding-in-tandem gunmen shot him.

Witnesses claimed to have heard bursts of gun fire.

Senior Inspector Frankie Gatila, deputy chief of San Jose Police Station, said the victim sustained two gunshot injuries on the head and three on the back of his body.

Police accounts said the victim just came from duty at the Antique Rehabilitation Center, a provincial government-run jail facility located at Barangay 8 in San Jose town, when the incident happened.

Pava was rushed to the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital where attending physicians however declared him dead on arrival.

The two assailants could have tailed him and carried the gun attack as Pava was navigating for a right turn. They then sped off to the northern direction of San Jose.

Gatila said police immediately set up a checkpoint in Hamtic and Sibalom towns but did not catch the gunman.

He said the footage from a closed circuit television camera the police later obtained, however did not offer a clear view of the incident. “But we’re looking for CCTV footage in other areas where the victim and the suspects passed by,” he said.

Gatila confirmed that Pava is on the PNP Directorate for Intelligence's watchlist of illegal drug personalities as a high value target. The jailguard submitted himself through Oplan Tokhang on March 2, last year where he denied any involvement in illegal drugs.

But Pava revealed some personalities who were allegedly responsible for sneaking illegal drugs into the Antique Rehabilitation Center.

As this developed, Gatila said they still have yet to determine the identities of the suspects. “We are looking at personal grudges and illegal drugs as possible motives,” he said.

But Gatila said they still have to talk to Pava’s family and co-workers to know if the slain jail guard received any death threat before the incident. (FREEMAN)