Monday, November 03, 2008 3 fire at police, get slain By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A POLICE operation against motorcycle-riding traffic violators ended in bloodshed last night.
Three men who were flagged down for overloading and failing to wear helmets allegedly engaged in a shootout with a team from the Cebu City Police Office’s (CCPO) Task Force Motorsiklo.
All the three men died of multiple gunshot wounds in their heads and bodies before reaching the Cebu City Medical Center. No policeman was injured.
The alleged shootout took place past 4 p.m. along M.J. Cuenco Ave., just outside a state college campus and across an automotive spare parts company.
As of press time, the three men were still unidentified.
Personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) 7 found 18 assorted empty shells and four deformed slugs.
Task force commander and CCPO deputy director for operations Pablo Labra II told reporters the “motor stop” operation was conducted as part of the police’s campaign against motorcycle-riding violators and robbers who used motorcycles for their getaway.
Two teams conducted the operation yesterday along M.J. Cuenco Ave. Labra led one team and Senior Insp. George Ylanan led the other.
Labra’s team stayed along a lane where motorcycles were heading downtown, while Ylanan’s team stayed on the other lane, flagging down motorcycles going to the north.
Overloaded
On the lane where Ylanan’s team stayed, a black Honda motorcycle (GU 1664) boarded by three men was flagged down for overloading and failing to wear helmets.
As soon as the motorcycle stopped, however, one of those on board reportedly fired at the police team.
Ylanan said it happened so fast that he can no longer remember how many of them fired at the three men. He identified the members of his team as SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, PO2 Frederick Ybañez, and PO1s Albert Luardo, Philip Plasus, Esmeraldo Quilosa and Michael Mausisa.
Ylanan said he also failed to determine who of the three men fired the first shot against the police team.
As part of standard operating procedure, a paraffin test will be conducted on the three men to identify who fired a gun.
Ylanan said two revolvers were confiscated from two of the three men.
The three men were rushed to the city hospital but were pronounced dead on arrival, SPO2 Rey Cuyos of the Homicide Section said.
‘Motor stop’
Cuyos said all the three men suffered injuries in the head and other parts of their bodies. Their bodies were taken to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes.
Labra and Waterfront Police Station Chief David Señor told Sun.Star Cebu that M.J. Cuenco Ave. is one of the streets in Barangay Tinago where petty crimes, particularly snatching and jeepney robbery, have been known to occur.
The Waterfront police conduct regular checkpoints in the area.
Since the Waterfront police had their hands full securing the cemeteries, including the Carreta cemetery, Labra said that the task force decided to help by taking charge of the checkpoints and “motor stop” operations.
Labra directed Theft and Robbery Section Chief Michael Anthony Bastes to conduct a background check on the three men as soon as their identities are established.
Labra said they have received reports about three men who have been pulling robberies in the city, particularly in Fuente Osmeña.
Shoot to kill
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos said the operation yesterday indicated that the campaign against lawbreakers who use motorcycles is effective.
“This is what we are going to concentrate on,” he said,
Roderos created the task force following a rise in crimes perpetrated by motorcycle riders. Of all the units under PRO 7, the CCPO topped the number of crimes committed by persons on motorcycles.
Last Oct. 24, the CCPO formally launched the Task Force Motorsiklo-Cebu City, with Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador leading the task force members in riding the motorcycles.
Comendador earlier warned that his operatives are trained sharpshooters and would not hesitate to use force “under circumstances allowed by law” if their safety is compromised.
“They have standing orders to shoot, to maim and, need be, to shoot to kill,” Comendador said during the recent launching of the task force. (JTG)
