Pasig cop goes on shooting spree
A policeman fired his gun indiscriminately on Monday in Tondo, Manila, days after the Philippine National Police announced that it was foregoing the traditional sealing of gun muzzles to show that the police force was responsible and disciplined.
PO1 Ronel Pantig, who according to a police report was assigned to the Pasig City police which is under the Eastern Police District, fired seven shots in the air in his neighborhood on A. Rivera Street around 2 a.m.
No one was hurt although the bullets struck the walls and door of the house owned by Anthony Tan, 25, who was asleep with his children at that time.
In an interview, Supt. Arnold Thomas Ibay, chief of the Moriones police station, said that the incident was reported to them by Divina Tan, a councilor for Barangay 245 Zone 22.
When a policeman responded, Pantig was gone. Found at the scene were seven casings from a 9-millimeter firearm.
Ibay said they were still trying to determine if Pantig used his service firearm since the standard issue for policemen is a 9-mm. “That’s part of our investigation,” he added.
Ibay said that based on the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera, Pantig was riding a motorcycle with a female companion when he pulled out a gun and fired into the air.
The gunfire woke up his neighbors, including Anthony Tan who said he looked out a window and saw Pantig firing indiscriminately.
He added that he immediately told his children to transfer to another room. He later discovered that his walls and door were hit by bullets.
According to a handwritten statement Anthony Tan gave to the Manila Police District (MPD), this was not the first time Pantig went on a shooting spree.
This would happen whenever the policeman was drunk, he added, although he did not elaborate.
The case has been referred to the MPD’s General Assignment and Investigation Section which handles complaints involving policemen.
Last week, the PNP announced that it would not seal the muzzles of policemen’s firearms, a tradition observed for years to prevent cases of indiscriminate firing during the holiday celebration.
This, according to PNP chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, was to show that policemen were “disciplined and responsible enough.”/rga
