10 Mandaluyong cops in mistaken identity shooting back on active duty

The 10 Mandaluyong City police officers who were relieved and placed on floating status for firing at a van last year, leaving two people dead and two others wounded, have reported back to work.

Senior Supt. Moises Villaceran, Mandaluyong police chief, said on Tuesday that Senior Insp. Ma. Cristina Vasquez, Police Officers 1 Alfred Uribe, Jave Arellano, Tito Danao, Mark Castillo, Julius Libuen, Bryan Nicolas, Albert Buwag, Kim Rufford Tibunsay and PO2 Nel Lemuel Songalia were back on active duty. Their benefits were also restored starting last month, he added.

The 10 police officers were charged earlier this year with homicide and frustrated homicide in connection with the deaths of Jonalyn Amba-an and construction worker Jomar Hayawon and the wounding of Eliseo Aluad and Danilo Santiago.

Shot by mistake

The four were among the seven passengers of a van which was mistaken for the getaway vehicle of a group of men who reportedly shot Amba-an in the head just minutes earlier.

The victims were rushing Amba-an to the hospital when their van was peppered with gunfire at the corner of Shaw Boulevard and Old Wack Wack Road at Barangay Pleasant Hills around 10:30 p.m. on Dec 28, 2017.

Investigators later said that at least 36 bullets were fired at the vehicle by barangay watchmen and the 10 police officers who rushed to the scene.

In their defense, the police officers said they were given the wrong information, prompting them to pursue the “wrong” suspects.

According to Villaceran, the nine police officers were given new assignments outside of Mandaluyong City while their team leader Vasquez was assigned chief of the Mandaluyong police’s women and children’s protection unit.

He said he learned about their reinstatement when one of them texted him. “They’re back at work. There was a hearing and their preventive suspension was over. I don’t know where they are now because they’re assigned to different areas.”

He also could not say who ordered the lifting of their suspension, adding: “I think it was the regional police office. I don’t know because I wasn’t informed.”

Back to normal

Villaceran said that the policemen were back to living normal lives although they were facing criminal charges.
“The case is already in court. It’s their right to return to work and receive their salaries unless there’s an administrative finding and they are ordered dismissed from the service.

“If they are convicted by the court, they will face automatic dismissal from the service,” he added.

He announced that Gilbert Golpo, one of the barangay watchmen also facing charges in connection with the shooting, was arrested in a drug bust operation conducted by the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit, Quezon City police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on June 18.
Golpo immediately escaped after the Dec. 28 incident.

Arrested with Golpo were Jayson Lagumbay and two minors.
They yielded 300 grams of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P2.04 million, two cal .45 pistols and a cal. 32 firearm.

‘Very material’

Villaceran said Golpo’s arrest was crucial and “very material” in the homicide case against the 10 police officers as he would be able to testify on the shooting.

The gun seized from Golpo would also be subjected to a ballistic test to determine if he fired any of the bullets that hit the victims.

Earlier, the Eastern Police District filed a separate homicide case against Aluad after investigators claimed that it was he who shot and killed Amba-an, his live-in partner, by accident during an argument with a group of men.