2 more gunmen hunted in Mindoro slay

LIPA CITY—Police are looking for two more gunmen in the slaying of Zenaida Luz, a leader of an anticrime group who was gunned down by two policemen in Oriental Mindoro province on Oct. 9.

Aside from Senior Insp. Magdalino Pimentel Jr. and Insp. Markson Almeranez, who are under tight police watch in a hospital in Calapan City, two more gunmen were involved in the attack on Luz in Gloria town, said Richard Albert, the victim’s live-in partner.

Senior Supt. Christopher Birung, provincial police director, confirmed this in an earlier interview, but declined to give details as the investigation is underway.

Birung also did not give details on the identities of the suspects when asked if they were also policemen.

Albert said witnesses saw two motorcycles speeding off after Luz was shot in front of her house on the night of Oct. 9 in Barangay Maligaya.

Luz, 51, was regional chair of the Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), a civilian police auxiliary group that also held office in her house.

“[Pimentel and Almeranez] were facing [the direction of] Bongabong [town], while the other two were facing [the opposite direction toward] Pinamalayan [town],” Albert said.

After the shots were fired, Pimentel and Almeranez took a U-turn as they fled.

Police chase

At that time, policemen in Gloria were responding to an accident a few meters from the crime scene. Alerted by the commotion, Gloria policemen ran after the assailants, one of them described to be wearing a wig.

Policemen caught up with the gunmen in Barangay Quinabigan in Pinamalayan, where a shootout ensued.

Pimentel and Almeranez were wounded in the gunfight and it was only then that the Gloria police team realized they had engaged fellow policemen.

Almeranez, at the time of the attack, was police chief of Socorro town while Pimentel was assigned in the Police Public Safety Company in the province.

Key to answers

On Sunday afternoon, Luz’s family received a posthumous award from CCW here during a general assembly of the organization’s Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional chapter members.

“I personally want to talk to [Pimentel and Almeranez]. They are the key to the answers as to why ate (Luz) was killed. Maybe there’s a reason they survived [the shootout], so they can right what they had done wrong,” said Luz’s sister, Perlita Alvarez.

Birung said the two police officers, who suffered multiple bullet wounds, were having a hard time speaking and have yet to give their statements to investigators.

Alvarez said the family remains baffled, as the police have yet to establish a motive in the killing.

She, however, said they are looking at various angles, among them Luz’s work with the CCW and a dispute over a property in Mindoro.

Albert said Luz was working on a livelihood program for former illegal drug users.

Lawyer Jose Malvar Villegas, CCW founder, said the involvement of the policemen proves the existence of extrajudicial killings under the administration of President Duterte.

“The police are behind the killings. These are uniformed cops disguising as vigilantes,” he said.