CANDELARIA, Quezon, Philippines?(UPDATE 2) At least eight suspected members of a criminal gang were killed early Monday in an alleged shootout with local policemen manning the Commission on Elections mobile checkpoint here.

Police said the shootout happened in front of the Philippine National Police 415th Mobile Group headquarters along the Maharlika Highway in the village of Taguan at around 5 a.m.

Chief Superintendent Elmo Francis Sarona, Quezon police chief, said heavily armed men aboard a Toyota Hi-Ace van (ZDN-912) who came from the nearby Tiaong town, and going to Candelaria, rammed through the Comelec wooden barricade and fired at the policemen manning the checkpoint, prompting the lawmen to return fire.

(Police have set up checkpoints nationwide to enforce the election period gun ban.)

Superintendent Hanzel Marantan, commander of the Quezon police safety management company, said he was supervising a group of eight police and Army soldiers at the checkpoint when the vehicle of the armed men suddenly rammed through the barricade and started firing.

?We ducked for cover and returned fire to defend ourselves,? he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Seven of the armed men died on the spot. Two of the bodies were laid on the pavement with their guns at their sides, while the rest of the slain suspects were found inside the bullet-ridden vehicle, he said.

A suspect who had bullet wounds in different parts of the body was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Four suspects who were identified from the contents of their wallets were known as Jojo Salazar, payroll guard from UMA security agency and resident of Magsaysay, Quezon City and Guiguinto, Bulacan; Roger Dasnes Bailon of Sto. Domingo, Cainta, Rizal; Wilbert Mauricio of Country Homes, Las Pinas; and Samuel Reonico of Scout Torillo St., Quezon City.

The rest of the slain criminals have yet to be identified, police said.

The lawmen suffered no injuries, according to Sarona.

Recovered from the slain suspects and inside the bullet-riddled vehicle were: a .45-pistol with five bullets; a caliber 357 revolver with 17 live ammunitions; a grenade; a US Carbine with two long magazines loaded with 43 bullets; two magazines for a .45-pistol loaded with ammunitions; and one jungle bolo.

Police also found a copy of the Holy Bible from the pocket of one of the slain suspects along with the two loaded magazines.

Found inside the vehicle were 16 pieces of un-cashed bank checks in one of the bags, several pieces of clothes, one pair of fake LTO plates, and several units of mobile phones.

One of the checks, amounting to P228,000, was paid to YHJ Phil. Corporation.

?We believe that the group was an organized KFR (kidnap-for-ransom) and robbery group and was about to stake out and eventually hit their targets probably pawnshops and other business establishments in Quezon and also kidnap moneyed personalities for ransom. But our men at the checkpoint prevented them,? Sarona told the Philippine Daily Inquirer during the course of investigation which he personally supervised at the crime scene.

After broadcasting his report, Ronilo Dagos, dzMM correspondent here in Quezon, received a mobile phone call from one Engineer Romeo Del Mundo, who introduced himself as an official of YHJ company, engaged in quarrying operation in Porac, Pampanga.

Del Mundo, who learned of the shootout from Dagos?s radio report, told the radio reporter that the check was one of the items stolen from the president of a Korean company who was robbed last February 4.

?I was told that the Korean victim can still recognize the four robbers,? Dagos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Police officer Marantan said Highway Patrol Group files showed that the plate number DZN-912 attached to the vehicle of the slain suspects was stolen from a Toyota Hi-Lux registered to one Redentor Cunanan on January 26, 2007.

The encounter and subsequent investigation resulted in a traffic jam on all lanes of the Maharlika Highway as scene of the crime investigators cordoned off the road.

According to residents in the area, the sound of gunfire lasted for about 10 minutes.