MPD takes 56 Badjao, Aeta mendicants off the streets
After Metro Manila’s top cop ordered “rescue” operations of street children, homeless people and beggars during the holiday season, the Manila Police District reported that it has rescued 56 mendicants, mostly indigenous peoples, since Wednesday. According to MPD Director Senior Supt. Vicente Danao, 55 of them are minors and belong to the Badjao and Aeta groups. The MPD turned over 40 of the children to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Eight were turned over to their respective barangays while the remaining eight were sent home. National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Guillermo Eleazar earlier ordered the implementation of Presidential Decree 1563 or the Anti-Mendicancy Law of 1978 that prohibits begging on the streets. —Mariejo S. Ramos
Taguig cop killed in clash with criminals
A Taguig policeman was killed in an encounter with the criminals he was hunting down on Thursday. Taguig police station intelligence operative PO1 Arnel Taccaban, 35, was shot by two unidentified hitmen while on-duty in front of Gawad Kalinga Village Phase 1 in Barangay Pinagsama at 2:10 a.m. In a report, Taguig policemen were doing a follow-up operation on robbery incidents in the area, when they chanced upon the two suspects. Instead of turning themselves in, the two gunmen fired at the operatives, hitting Taccaban in the left shoulder. Taccaban was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m. The suspects fled. —Dexter Cabalza