MANILA, Philippines?A man and his young daughter were among 16 people killed in a police operation on Friday night in a middle-class subdivision in Parañaque City.

For some 40 minutes, the usual quiet of United Parañaque Subdivision 4 in Barangay Marcelo Green was shattered by a gun battle between policemen and a group of suspected robbers.

?At first, we thought the noise was just firecrackers. But we noticed that it was extraordinarily long and loud,? said Lerma Abueg, who lives in a house some 500 meters from where the shootout occurred.

?It was deafening. We couldn?t even hear our own voices,? another resident said.

When the shooting stopped, Alfonso ?Jun? de Vera, 53, and his 7-year-old daughter, Lea Alyanna, were found dead on dimly lit Sampaguita Street along with 10 other people, including eight of the suspected robbers.

Director Leopoldo Bataoil, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), expressed regret to Lilian de Vera, saying her husband and child might have been caught in the crossfire.

Bataoil promised the weeping woman an impartial investigation. ?I want to assure you that this was a legitimate operation against our real enemies. I assure you that I will never condone any wrongdoing of my men. I beg for your understanding,? he said.

But Lilian de Vera retorted: ?I don?t understand a thing. I don?t trust the police. I only trust the media.

?Why do you have to kill my little angel? Why do you have to kill my husband? He?s a good man. We?ve done nothing wrong to you.?

Two heavily armed men on a motorcycle were also killed in a purported ensuing shootout with members of the Philippine National Police?s Highway Patrol Group (HPG).

PO1 Nixon Vinasoy of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) and barangay watchman (tanod) Bernard Tuncab likewise died while being wheeled into a hospital.

Gunned down

Witnesses said the De Veras were gunned down by SAF agents who apparently mistook their Isuzu Crosswind (XEW 327) as one of the suspected robbers? getaway cars.

Resident Larry Indiana, a former vice mayor of Bongabong, Nueva Vizcaya, said he and his neighbors saw at least seven SAF agents shoot and kill the De Veras.

?They should not have fired at the van. I?m sure they know that Jun was innocent. His daughter was on the front passenger seat. How could they have failed to notice her?? Indiana said, adding:

?Jun even came out of his van to run for safety, but they (the SAF agents) still shot him.

?People here are angry with the police. We are willing to testify just to prove that Jun and the girl were innocent.?

A senior police official, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said the SAF personnel ?obviously committed lapses? in the rules of engagement.

?They could just have ordered the occupants of the vehicle to step down because they were not being fired at. It was really an unfortunate incident,? the official told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Parallel probes

PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa has formed a fact-finding team to look into the matter.

In a statement relayed to the Inquirer by the PNP spokesperson, Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, Verzosa said ?all possible assistance to the police and civilian casualties? would be extended.

?We feel the grief of losing a loved one and the PNP will continue to account for the other criminal elements responsible for this act,? Verzosa said.

The National Bureau of Investigation is conducting a parallel inquiry.

Lawyer Ricardo Diaz, chief of staff of the NBI deputy director for intelligence service, said agents of the bureau?s National Capital Region had been assigned to the case.

?We?ve already sent a team, including medico-legal experts, in the area to gather information,? he said.

Diaz said the De Vera family as well as the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, had also requested the bureau to investigate.

?They went berserk?

Bataoil described the shootout as the bloodiest firefight yet between lawmen and criminal elements in Metro Manila.

He said the armed men fired at ?anybody in their path? as they were escaping, and even tried to blow up a diesel tanker to divert the cops? attention.

?They really went berserk. They were mad gunmen. They thought all the people in the area were police operatives,? he said.

From the items recovered at the scene, lawmen believe that they have neutralized a group of robbers posing as policemen and soldiers, Bataoil told reporters at the scene.

?With this incident, we have shown our resolve, determination and sincerity in eliminating rogue criminals victimizing innocent civilians,? he said.

?With the neutralization of these robbers, we expect a minimal incidence of high-profile robberies in Metro Manila for the next several months.?

On a tip

Here is how it happened, according to Bataoil:

Operatives from the HPG, SAF, NCRPO and Southern Police District (SPD) were sent to the scene on a tip that members of the Waray-Waray Gang and Ozamiz Group would rob the warehouse of the Southern Transport company in the subdivision.

At around 9 p.m., policemen led by Supt. Eleuterio Gutierrez Jr. noted two vehicles?a maroon Toyota Revo (WPW 808) and a white Toyota Revo (WCY 362)?that entered the subdivision and passed the warehouse on Sampaguita Street.

Before policemen could accost the vehicles? drivers, they were fired at from inside.

SAF agents were able to fire back at the passengers of the maroon Revo, killing eight of them.

Gutierrez, who was on board a Starex van (XFB 860), was shot at by the passengers of the white Revo. The vehicle later rammed into a steel pole and was found abandoned in front of the subdivision gate.

Gutierrez was taken to the Parañaque Medical Hospital where he is fighting for his life.

The gunmen then commandeered a black Toyota Vios (XTG 256) driven by Ceasar Beligolo, and fled toward Sucat Road.

Pursuing HPG operatives subsequently killed two other gunmen, one armed with an M203 grenade launcher and a shotgun, near a footbridge on the Sucat Interchange of South Luzon Expressway.

Senior Supt. Jaime Calungsod, SPD chief, said four other men were arrested in a follow-up operation.

15 more nabbed

Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales, director of the Manila Police District, said 15 more men were nabbed in a follow-up operation in Bacoor, Cavite, Saturday morning.

Rosales said the MPD policemen had arrest warrants for two of the men whom he refused to name.

?Based on initial evidence, seven of the 15 men we arrested were part of the Ozamiz robbery group. Some of them admitted that they were the ones who commandeered a vehicle in escaping from Parañaque on Friday,? he told the Inquirer.

He added that all 15 men were taken to MPD headquarters for questioning and for paraffin tests.

In a statement, the NCRPO identified seven of the 10 gunmen killed as Avelino Villanueva Abayon, Rey Yec Olarte, Ricarte Esteban Chavez, Baltazar Aguilar Decurian, Camilo Pastrana, Dennis Bassig, Danilo Lagpas Tranca.

It named the five civilians killed as De Vera and his daughter Lea Alyanna, Tuncab, Jesery Vicemayor and Arnel Macaloan.

The NCRPO listed security guard Orlando Gacura Jr. and barangay watchman Antonio Chavez as injured.

It said Supt. Gutierrez, Chief Insp. Hermogenes Cabe and Insp. Ericson Roranes of the PNP Special Action Force were also injured.

Four M-16 Armalite rifles and several magazines, two M203 grenade launchers, two .45 cal. pistols, two grenades, handheld radios, a PNP jacket, a bolt cutter, a big mallet, two Toyota Revos, and an Isuzu Crosswind were found at the scene, the NCRPO said.

String of robberies

Bataoil said the slain gunmen were behind the armored van robbery last month on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City, which left three bank personnel dead.

He said some of the gunmen also robbed the Metrobank branch in Parañaque last year, St. Scholastica?s College in Manila and the Light Railway Transit Authority in Pasay City.

15 high-profile robberies solved

He said the group was likewise responsible for robbery attempts at the Navotas fish port and a cell phone trading firm in Makati City.

According to Bataoil, the gunmen were identified through their photographs in the NCRPO ?rogues? gallery.?

?With this operation, we were able to solve at least 15 high-profile robbery incidents in the metropolis in the past year,? he told the Inquirer.

Supt. Franklin Mabanag, of the Quezon City Police District?s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, made a similar remark.

?The police now have the upper hand because these groups are now just remnants of former big crime gangs. Pilay na sila (Now they are crippled),? Mabanag said.

Supt. Antonio Yarra, head of the General Investigation Section, surmised that robbery groups were now ?less accurate? in their surveillance of targets, resulting in failed or foiled heists, as well as casualties and logistical losses during fire fights with lawmen.

?Their information is now lacking, and sometimes, instead of just spending three to five minutes in a heist, they are caught by police,? he said. With reports from Julie M. Aurelio and Tina G. Santos