A member of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and his companion died in a motorcycle crash on their way to church before dawn on Wednesday in Pasig City.
Airman 2nd Class Reynald Henry Leonor, 31, and his friend Michael Capultan were on a bike en route to Pasig Cathedral from the City Hall when Leonor, the driver, lost control around 4:30 a.m. along Caruncho Avenue, according to Joel Paradillo of the city’s Traffic and Parking Management Office.
The bike crashed into a center island, throwing both men off. Leonor, who reported to the Headquarters Service Support Command in Camp Aguinaldo, died on the spot from serious injuries while Capultan was rushed to the Rizal Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.
Paradillo noted that traffic was light on Caruncho at that time and that the bike riders, who were both not wearing helmets, may have been speeding.
Relatives later told investigators that the two men were on their way to church. Kristine Felisse Mangunay
Killings make week unholy
A time for rest and reflection for many, a time for mayhem and mourning for some.
Midway through Holy Week, three people were killed in separate incidents in Manila and Quezon City, including a minor shot dead just outside his house and a bar customer slain in a knife attack. Third to fall was a suspected robber reportedly ganged upon by an angry mob.
A 16-year-old Irwin Gruba was shot in the back of his head outside his home on Capas Road in Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City, around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
PO2 Romeo Niño said a witness saw two armed men get off from a tricycle and approach the victim. The witness then heard a shot and saw the men on the run and the wounded teenager on the ground, crying for help.
Gruba was declared dead on arrival at East Avenue Medical Center. The motive behind the attack remained under investigation.
Also in Quezon City, a 46-year-old man from Isabela province was killed shortly before midnight Tuesday.
Vicente Abisado Jr. of Centro Antonio, Ilagan town, sustained multiple stab wounds in the limbs and body in a brawl at Smuk Videoke bar on Quirino Highway, Barangay Baesa.
The unidentified assailant was another bar customer that night who earlier traded punches with Abisado, briefly left the establishment, and returned with a knife, according to PO2 Julius Cesar Balbuena, of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Balbuena said both men were drunk at the time.
In Sta. Ana, Manila, a suspected robber was beaten to death in an alley shortly after staging a hold-up in a passenger jeepney.
Regie Pangilinan, a village watchman, said he saw two men rob a jeepney (DNA 744) around 3 a.m. Wednesday and flee toward the corner of Tenorio and Francisco streets.
Pangilinan, who was then keeping watch from a backhoe several meters from the street corner, blew his whistle to alert the neighborhood.
About 10 minutes later, Pangilinan learned that an unidentified man who was allegedly mauled by bystanders was found dead on Tenorio Street.
When the village watchman checked the body, he recognized the dead as one of the two men who robbed the jeepney.
The man, who remained unidentified on Wednesday, wore a black sando and white shorts. Jeannette I. Andrade and Erika Sauler