Cop slain in clash with rob suspects

LUCENA CITY—A policeman was killed in a clash with five robbery suspects, one of them a woman, in Atimonan, Quezon, 176 kilometers south of Manila, on Wednesday.

Senior Supt. Valeriano de Leon, Quezon police chief, identified the fatality as PO3 Francisco Villania, a member of the Atimonan police station assigned to its patrol car unit.

“P03 Villania was a dedicated policeman, one of my best cops,” Chief Insp. Dwight Alegre, Atimonan police chief, said over the phone yesterday.

Villania, in his early 50’s, left a wife and three children, the youngest of whom is a college student in Batangas, according to Alegre.

The remains of the policeman were brought to Lopez town, where his family resides, for a wake. Alegre said he would be buried in Atimonan because he was a native of the town.

Chief Supt. James Andres Melad, Calabarzon police director, and De Leon praised the heroism of the slain policeman.

“We also commend his other companions for their brave response on a distress call from the community,” the police officials said in a statement.

De Leon, quoting a report from the Atimonan police, said Villania and his partner,

PO2 Benito Reyes, were on patrol around the municipality when they responded to a radio message about a robbery in progress in a local convenience store.

When the policemen arrived at the crime scene, the robbers had just fled aboard a tricycle. The two policemen gave chase and engaged the suspects in a gunfight in Barangay Angeles along the Maharlika Highway.

In the exchange of gunfire, Villania shot one of the robbers but was also hit. He died on the spot.

Two of the robbers, later identified as Miguel Mollas Targa and Elmer Encina, commandeered a jeepney but were later arrested in a dragnet laid down by Senior Insp. Marcelino Platino, the police chief of nearby Plaridel town.

De Leon said two other suspects—a woman alias “April” and her gangmate, “Bobby,” both residents of Tayabas town—were able to make good their escape. They are now subjects of a police manhunt.

The arrested suspects yielded an Uzi submachine gun, a .38 cal.  revolver and an undetermined amount of cash.