NEWSBRIEFS

TAGAYTAY CITY

Village execs held for guns

Two village officials and another person were arrested on Wednesday after police recovered high powered firearms from their houses in Tagaytay City, the regional police chief on Thursday said.

Village chief Monico Natividad of Barangay (village) Calaboso,  councilman Paulino Arcebuche of the same barangay, and another person identified as Gabriel Terrible were arrested in a police operation, according to Calabarzon police director Chief Supt. James Melad.

Among the firearms recovered from Natividad’s house were two submachine guns, a rifle and a hand grenade, Melad said. Guns and ammunition were also seized from the houses of Terrible and Arcebuche, he added.

The three face charges for illegal possession of firearms.—Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon

QUEZON

Woman held for drugs

An alleged notorious female drug pusher in Tiaong town was nabbed in a police buy-bust operation on Wednesday afternoon.

The Tiaong police chief, Superintendent Joriz Cantoria, said Venus Escano, 41, a resident of San Pablo City in Laguna, was arrested while selling shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) to a police informant in Barangay San Agustin, Tiaong.

When searched, Escano yielded eight plastic sachets of shabu worth about P10,000, Cantoria said. Escano was detained in the Tiaong jail.—Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

Village guard slain

Gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle shot dead a village watchman in Tayabas City on Wednesday evening.

The Tayabas police investigator, Senior Police Officer 1 Joseph Burcelango, said Rodelio Brania, 40, a laborer and volunteer tanod (watchman) in Barangay (village) Malaoa, Tayabas, was walking home at 9:55 p.m. after watching a neighborhood basketball game when the suspects suddenly appeared and shot the victim several times in the head. Brania died on the spot, he said.

The motive for the killing is still unknown.—Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

LAGUNA

Train hits drunk man

A train ran over a drunken man on Thursday at Barangay (village) Tadlac in Los Baños.

Case investigator Police Officer 2 Arturo Ramirez said Patrick Guinto was killed when hit by a train in Barangay Tadlac around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Police and residents found the victim’s torso cut off. Police’s initial investigation found that Guinto was drunk when he crossed the railway, Ramirez said.

Just last week, a 14-year-old boy was hit by a Philippine National Railways train in Gumaca, Quezon, and another man died also after being hit by a train in Pagbilao, Quezon.—Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon