Quezon police chief axed after ‘shootout’ between cops and mayor’s son

MANILA, Philippines — The director of the Quezon Police Provincial Office has been relieved from his post for command responsibility in the wake of the alleged shooting incident between police officers and the son of a Quezon town mayor, Chief Supt. Edward Carranza, director of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police, said on Tuesday.

Carranza told INQUIRER.net in a text message that he ordered the relief of Senior Supt. Osmundo de Guzman for “failure to supervise his men including the COP (chief of the Tayabas City Police).”

Senior Supt. Joseph Arguelles of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division of the Calabarzon police was designated as Quezon Provincial Police Office officer-in-charge said Carranza.

On March 14, a man from a gasoline station in Tayabas City reported that two-motorcycle riding gunmen fired twice at him for a yet unknown reason, but missed.

Elements of the Tayabas City Police Station then responded and engaged the two suspects in an alleged shootout.The suspects were killed on the spot.

Police later learned that one of the suspects killed in the shootout was Christian Gayeta, the 21-year-old son of Sariaya town Mayor Marcelo Gayeta.

Before being removed from his post, De Guzman also relieved on Monday Supt. Mark Joseph Laygo, chief of the Tayabas City Police Station, and three police officers who were deployed for the operation, to assure impartiality of the investigation. /muf