FOUR men were killed in a series of police operations in Batangas on Wednesday and early Thursday morning as the police stepped up their hunt for the suspects involved in the bloody bank robbery in Laguna last week.

In his report to the National Police chief, Director General Avelino Razon Jr., Chief Supt. Ricardo Padilla, Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) police commander, said Pepito Magsino, 35, of barangay 4, Poblacion, Tanauan City, was killed in a firefight with a team of policemen.

Padilla said Magsino was killed after he engaged a team of the Task Force RCBC in the province, which is headed by Senior Supt. Gilbert Sauro, in a shootout at about 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday.

A policeman, Senior Police Officer 1 Reynaldo Salazar, was wounded.

Padilla said Sauro’s team was on a surveillance operation, still in relation to the robbery that occurred at the RCBC branch in Cabuyao, Laguna, last week, where 10 people, nine of them bank employees, were killed, when the firefight broke out.

Eight hours later, the same task force, which is on a follow-up operation, killed three men, including a former barangay chairman in a shootout in barangay Pagaspas in Tanauan City.

Padilla identified the dead suspects as Vivencio Javier, 55, former barangay chairman of Pagaspas; Angelito Malabanan, 35; and Rolly Lachica, 50.

Policemen recovered from the scene of the shootout one Glock 9mm pistol, a Winchester rifle, a hand grenade, a magazine for the pistol with seven live ammunition, spent 5.56mm and 9mm shells and blood samples.

Several cellular phones were also seized from Javier’s house.

Padilla said that during the operation, the police also arrested Louie Austria and Allan Tapia for possessing two unlicensed Armscor caliber .45 pistols.

Padilla said investigators were still determining if the killed gunmen and those who were arrested were involved in the bank heist.

He added that all of the recovered firearms would be subjected to tests to determine if these were used in the robbery-killing.

Thailand commits to fill in RP rice needs

IN the spirit of Asean unity and brotherhood, visiting Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday committed to supply whatever rice requirements the Philippines would need in the future.

TEN still unidentified armed men who reportedly claimed to be New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas broke into the terminal of Victory Liner on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), Quezon City, on Wednesday night and set on fire one of its buses, the police said.

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has found probable cause to indict three building engineers and five employees for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and gross negligence in connection with the October 19, 2007, blast that destroyed Glorietta 2 in Makati City, that left 11 persons dead and more than 100 others injured.

EDITA BURGOS, the mother of missing political activist Jonas Burgos, on Thursday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to cite former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and several other military and police officials in contempt for having filed a false return to the writ of amparo issued by the Supreme Court (SC).

FOUR men were killed in a series of police operations in Batangas on Wednesday and early Thursday morning as the police stepped up their hunt for the suspects involved in the bloody bank robbery in Laguna last week.

QUEZON City mayor Feliciano Belmonte started the ball rolling for the redevelopment of the Quezon Circle to revive it as the central park of the metropolis and give it due importance as the shrine of President Manuel Quezon. The late president and his wife, Aurora, are buried in the monument in the center of the park.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Gunmen staged an ambush killing a Marine and wounding another in Sulu.

A police report disclosed that the incident took place Tuesday in sitio Dan Puti, barangay Liang, Patikul.