No cases filed yet over Abra checkpoint shootout

HIT | A bullet pierces through the windshield of a police patrol car in Pilar, Abra, after policemen engage security aides of Vice Mayor Jaja Josefina Somera Disono in a shootout on March 29, 2022. (From the PNP CORDILLERA)

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — No criminal cases have been lodged yet against a town vice mayor in Abra province, a week since the daylight gunbattle between her alleged security team and police officers who were manning an election checkpoint, a police official said on Monday.

Capt. Ronaldo Eslabra, chief of police of Pilar town, said no charges had been filed as of Monday since the investigation into the shootout and the resulting standoff between the police and the town’s vice mayor, Jaja Josefina Disono, was still underway.

Policemen in Abra have organized a special investigation task group to look into the exchange of gunfire between policemen and the security escorts of Disono.

Abra police said they would press charges against Disono if investigators would determine that she harbored armed security employees without the approval of the Commission on Elections and the Philippine National Police.

Defying protocols

Disono’s aides reportedly defied protocols and raced through the checkpoint at the town center at 10:30 a.m. on March 29, Eslabra said.

The van had sideswiped two police officers as it sped off. A gunfight with the police occurred when a shot struck the windshield of a police vehicle.

Investigators said the van sought sanctuary at the home of Disono, who refused to surrender the van’s driver after her compound was flanked on all sides by the lawmen.

Disono’s companions streamed live on social media the security camera footage showing the policemen surrounding her house to sound the alarm that the vice mayor was supposedly “under siege.”

After negotiations, the police retrieved the van for forensic examination and the remains of Sandee Boy Bermudo, who was allegedly killed during the encounter with the police. Bermudo, a resident of Makati City and a former soldier, was part of a 13-man security team hired to protect Disono.

The surviving aides of the vice mayor turned themselves in for questioning while 14 high-powered weapons that were licensed to Disono’s family were surrendered for ballistics tests.

—REPORTS FROM VINCENT CABREZA AND KIMBERLIE QUITASOL

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