JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino and five others in Samar last Monday.
Guevarra said the NBI should take over the investigation on the incident since members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were among the parties involved in the deadly shootout.
Aquino was on his way to attend his son’s birthday party in Samar last Monday when the incident occurred.
Aquino, who was on board a white van with his aides, were traveling north along the Laboyao Bridge in Lonoy village when they were allegedly fired upon.
This allegedly prompted one of Aquino’s security personnel to fire shots at the van that they allegedly thought were tailing them.
It turned out the occupants of the other vehicles were PNP personnel from the Integrity, Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) and the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU).
Dead on the spot were Mayor Aquino, S/Sgt. Rodeo Balonzo, S/Sgt. Romeo Laoyon, and Dennis Abayon, the mayor’s driver. Wounded were S/Sgt. Neil Cebu; Mansfield Labonite, the mayor’s aide; and Clint John Paul Yauder, a local government employee.
Laoyon was onboard in one of the vehicles reportedly tailing the mayor’s car while Balonzo, Cebu, and Labonite were in the same car with Aquino.
Yauder, whose car was just passing by but got caught in the shooting, later died while under treatment at St. Camillus Hospital in Calbayog.
Rentuaya said the body of Capt. Joselito Tabada, chief of Samar PNP-DEU and acting chief of police of nearby Gandara town, was recovered under the bridge on the same night.
Tabada was onboard a van said to be tailing the mayor’s car. His death was not included in the spot report due to the late discovery of his body.
“We would refer the matter to the NBI for the simple reason that the other party involved is from the PNP [Philippine National Police]. The information that we have gathered so far is that the [group of Mayor Aquino] had an encounter with alleged police officers,” said Guevarra.
“So since there are different versions, in order to have an objective and impartial investigation, I will direct the NBI today to investigate the incident,” Guevarra said.
Who fired the first shot?
AT Camp Crame, meanwhile, the PNP maintained that the first gunshot that triggered the gunfight between the convoy of Aquino and a team of policemen came from the group of the late mayor.
A news statement released by the PNP, through its spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana, said the gun battle allegedly transpired after the group of Aquino fired at the convoy of the joint IMEG and PDEA team.
“There was an exchange of gunfire between the two groups that resulted to casualties on both sides…,” Usana said.
Usana said that while the details of the incident remain sketchy, investigation reports have so far established that the shot, which triggered the gun battle came from the convoy of Aquino.
“The group of Mayor Aquino was alleged to have initiated the shootout when his close-in security fired at the unmarked vehicle of the IMEG-PDEU group that was travelling in the same direction along the road,” Usana said.
“The IMEG-PDEU group denies that Mayor Aquino was a subject of their operations or that he was targeted. The SITG [Special Investigation Task Group] shall confirm the veracity of this statement,” he added.
Usana said the joint IMEG-PDEU team was conducting “Red Teaming inspection on the operational readiness of PNP units in the area” when the firefight happened.
“The PNP personnel involved also claimed they were initially unaware of the passengers on board the vehicle that fired upon them. It was only after the firefight that the said vehicle was identified to be owned by Mayor Aquino. The same remains to be validated,” the PNP spokesman also said. With PNA report