4 COPS HURT IN GUNFIGHT WITH 3 WANTED MEN IN QUEZON

BY LEIZIEL AMPELOQUIO

LUCENA CITY — Four senior policemen on Friday were injured in a shootout with three wanted persons they were about to arrest in Bgy. Manggagawa, Guinayangan, Quezon.

Guinayangan police chief Maj. Julio Dogta said the injured were PCMS Crisologo Castillo, 44, assigned at the  Guinayangan Police Station, PEMS Alex Maigue, 44, PSSg John James Red, both from the Regional Intelligence Unit-4A, and PCMS Domingo Jalmasco Enraca Jr., 42, assigned at the Police Regional Office 5.

The suspects were identified as Richard Rabe, 37; and Roy Armillo,  both of Libon, Albay; and Magno Rivera, 32, of Camarines Sur.

The three are included in the list of most wanted persons for the crime of murder.

Dogta said the encounter occurred at 6:45 a.m. on Friday while the joint police teams tried to barge into the suspects’ safehouse, which was padlocked at the time.

Armed by an arrest warrant issued by Ligao City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 Judge Edwin Cleofe Ma-alat for murder, Dogta said the search operation under “Coplan Sphynx” was carried out by joint elements of  the Regional Special Operations Unit, Regional Intelligence Division-5 , Provincial Intelligence Units of Albay and Camarines Sur, Regional Mobile Force Battalion, and Guinayangan Police Station, along with the elements of  the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

“But bacause it took time for the policemen to unlock the door, the suspects, who were armed with pistols inside the house managed to open fire, hitting the lawmen  in the arms and legs before escaping through the backdoor,” said Dogta.

Quezon police director Col. Ruben Lacuesta has ordered a dragnet operation and a massive manhunt for the suspects who fled in the forested part of the town.

It was learned that the suspects are remnants of a dreaded criminal gang in Camarines Sur who was recently  discovered by the Intelligence operatives to have been hiding in the town of Guinayangan.