FIVE persons were killed in a shootout between suspected members of a holdup gang and responding lawmen that started in Balintawak, Quezon City, and ended in Valenzuela City.

The fatalities include three of the alleged six robbers, the bus driver and a passenger, Senior Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula, Quezon City police chief, said.

The police arrested three suspected holdup men, who allegedly held hostage three passengers—Ronnie Fernandez, Ryan Guevarra and Jojo Baysatan—after their companion was killed in the initial volley.

Gatdula said the suspects boarded a JMK Liner bus on Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City, and declared a holdup on reaching Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City at 10 a.m.                                         

While the robbers were collecting the valuables of the passengers, one passenger persuaded them to let him alight the bus in Cubao.

Gatdula said that passenger immediately reported the holdup to policemen who were on a patrol car near the area. After asking for backup, the policemen chased the bus, which was blocked by policemen from the Muñoz Police Station, who were alerted by the Quezon City Police District’s tactical operation.

The robbers, however, shot the bus driver and a passenger before escaping from the bus, bringing with them three hostages.They then commandeered a passing red Mitsubishi Adventure with plate number CSX 806 and sped towards the North Luzon Expressway with the police chasing them.

However, the Adventure hit a concrete post, prompting the robbers to get off and run to a residential area, where they were cornered. 

FEARFUL witnesses who claimed to have seen first-hand how the alleged election fraud was carried out in Maguindanao, resulting in a 12-0 shutout in favor of administration senatorial bets, want to testify on the alleged cheating before an executive session of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to get it over and done with, opposition spokesman Adel Tamano said on Thursday.

THE National Water Resources Board (NWRB) can legally hear the complaint filed by several groups and individuals seeking to stop the then Lopez-owned Maynilad Water Services Inc. from increasing its water rates by P30.19 per cubic meter in its service area, which is west of the Pasig River. It was to have been effective January 1, 2005.

FIVE persons were killed in a shootout between suspected members of a holdup gang and responding lawmen that started in Balintawak, Quezon City, and ended in Valenzuela City.

PLARIDEL, Quezon—The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) picked up the wife of the mayor of this town from the cockpit of the adjacent town of Atimonan on Monday for alleged bigamy.

UNIDENTIFIED armed men abducted four Caucasians in Pikit, North Cotabato, on Thursday morning.