3 cops in slay of mayor’s son sacked

OUT OF PNP Police Lt. Col. Mark Joseph Laygo (center), former police chief of Tayabas City in Quezon province, and two of his men appear in a court hearing in Lucena City. —PEEWEE BACUÑO / CONTRIBUTOR

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — Three policemen, including a senior officer, have been dismissed from the Philippine National Police over the killing of the son of Mayor Marcelo Gayeta of Sariaya, Quezon, and his companion in an alleged shootout in Tayabas City in March.

In an Oct. 17 ruling, Brig. Gen. Edward Carranza, outgoing regional police director of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), removed from the police service former Tayabas police chief, Lt. Col. Mark Joseph Laygo, Cpl. Lonald Sumalpong and Pat. Robert Legaspi after results of administrative charges filed against them were released.

“Under the qualifying circumstances of evident premeditation, treachery and abuse of superior strength attended by aggravating circumstances of grave irregularity in the performance of duty, grave dishonesty and conduct unbecoming of a police officer with no mitigating circumstance to consider … they are hereby meted the commensurate penalty in its maximum period of dismissal from the police service,” Carranza said.

Exonerated

Carranza said they were found guilty of two counts of grave misconduct.

The other respondents in the administrative case, he said, “are found not culpable and they are hereby exonerated from the instant administrative charges.”

They are Master Sgt. Ismael Cabriga; Staff Sgts. Christopher John Siman, Kim Carlo Lavado and Michael Rojas; Cpls. Sherwin Abordo and Roldan Panganiban; Patrolmen Kimberly Manalo, William Allan Ricamonte and Perry Malabaguio.

Laygo, Sumalpong and Legaspi were among the principal suspects in the killing of Christian Gayeta and his companion, Christopher Manalo, in what was reported as a shootout with policemen in Tayabas on March 14.

But a report by the National Bureau of Investigation, in a probe which was sought by the Gayeta family, showed that the younger Gayeta and Manalo were murdered by policemen.

Dominador Villanueva, agent in charge of the NBI Lucena district office, said the victims were stopped at a checkpoint and were taken into custody after they were found carrying two pistols. They were cited for violating the election gun ban.

The NBI had obtained the testimonies of four other policemen who were allegedly involved in the supposed shootout, which prompted the filing of double murder charges against Laygo, Sumalpong and Legaspi. The three policemen are detained at the Quezon provincial jail. —Delfin T. Mallari Jr.