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CITY OF
MALOLOS—Are they fall guys or the real killers?
These is
the question raised on the real identities of two
suspected members of a notorious
gun-for-hire-and-robbery-holdup gang who were killed in
a shootout with lawmen at Block 6, Northville 5,
barangay Batia, Bocaue, Bulacan, Wednesday night.
A report
sent by Supt. Jesus Reyes, Calumpit police chief, to
Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo, acting Bulacan police
commander, said the fatalities were identified by two
eye-witnesses at the funeral parlor as the assailants in
the Sunday night killing of former Calumpit mayor Ramon
“Monching” Pagdanganan.
Reyes
said the witnesses, Myrna Alfonso, 54, widow, jobless;
and Marcelo Datuin, 34, single, both of barangay Calizon,
Calumpit, Bulacan, positively identified the cadavers of
the killed gang members as those who shot dead
Pagdanganan in barangay Calizon on Sunday night.
Another
witness, Jojit Arpas Cruz, 31, single, a resident of Iba
O’ Este, Calumpit, Bulacan, identified one of the
gangmen as the one who shot him in sitio Little Tondo,
barangay Iba O’ Este, Calumpit, on May 12.
The
police said they are still verifying the statements of
the witnesses.
The
police identified the fatalities as Jerry Velasco and a
certain Jocel.
Chief
Insp. Rizalino Andaya, Bocaue police chief, said the two
were members of Kabayan Group, a gang involved in a
series of robbery hold-ups, carjacking,
cellular-telephone snatching, agaw armas and gun-for-
hire activities.
Bantolo
said concerned citizens tipped off the Bocaue police
station on the presence of armed men inside a house in
the said area.
The
Bocaue police, led by Andaya, proceeded to the area and
saw a group of men having drinking session and another
group playing cards, Bantolo said, and added that as the
lawmen were approaching, one of the men pulled out a gun
and fired on the approaching policemen.
A
firefight ensued, resulting in the death of Velasco and
a certain Jocel.
The
police recovered a caliber .357 revolver with live
ammunition and one caliber .22 pistol with one magazine.
Their
bodies were taken to Funeraria Villarin for autopsy.
Supporters and friends of Pagdanganan raised
speculations that if the the two fatalities were really
the ones who killed the former mayor, there is a big
possibility that the mastermind behind the killings have
ordered them killed to eliminate the only persons who
can link him to the crime. |
