3 DPWH workers dead in gun attack in Quezon

LUCENA CITY—Three road workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Quezon’s Bondoc Peninsula district were killed and four others were injured in an attack on Friday in Mulanay town, 136 kilometers southeast of this city.

Chief Insp. Romulo Albacea, Mulanay police chief, identified the fatalities as Ronald Monterey, Jason Rodelas and Celso Red. They all died on the spot from gunshot wounds.

Four workers were wounded and taken to Quezon Medical Center (QMC) here after receiving emergency treatment at Bondoc Peninsula District Hospital in nearby Catanauan town.

Albacea said the workers were shot by an unidentified man in Barangay Butanyog in Mulanay past 10 p.m.

A report by police said the seven road workers, all employees of the DPWH-Quezon third engineering district, arrived in Butanyog on board a DPWH service vehicle and stopped in front of a store to buy cigarettes.

The seven were working on an ongoing road repair project in the area and were returning to their home base in the village of Pakiing when they stopped by the store, according to Mulanay Mayor Tito Ojeda in a phone interview on Saturday.

Albacea said the suspect was drinking liquor with two companions at the roadside near the store when the DPWH vehicle arrived. The suspect got irked with the bright headlights of the vehicle, he added.

While some of the victims were buying cigarettes and the others were urinating at the side of the street, the suspect, armed with a .45 cal. pistol, confronted the DPWH workers.

Abraham Almero, one of the wounded victims now confined at QMC, said they apologized to the suspect but they were still fired upon.

Albacea said an investigation showed that a verbal altercation between the suspect and some of the DPWH workers could have triggered the shooting.