5 Pangasinan cattle theft suspects slain in attack

DAGUPAN CITY—Five people, including a father and his son, were shot and hacked to death by a group of men who barged into their shanty in Bugallon, Pangasinan, early Saturday, police said.

Chief Insp. Lauro Escobar, Bugallon police chief, said policemen found the bodies of Rommel Ramoran, 38,  his son Jomer, 17,  cousins Ernesto, 49, and Ronald Ramoran, 34, and Albert Martinez when they reached the shanty in the middle of a rice field in Barangay Poblacion past

1 a.m.

“We have not yet established who the suspects are. We are still investigating,” Escobar said by telephone.

But he said a witness, the wife of one of the victims, had told investigators that eight to 10 men entered the shanty at 12:50 a.m. and attacked them.

The suspects, whose faces were concealed by bonnets, first tied Jomer and Albert, who were outside the shanty during the attack.

Cattle rustlers?

The witness said Rommel, Ernesto and Ronald tried to fight back but the attackers gunned them down. Escobar said the witness was able to run and report the incident to the police.

“When we got there, five people were dead. Some of them were shot and the others hacked,” Escobar said.

He said the victims had criminal records for cattle rustling and robbery, and investigators were trying to establish if their previous cases had something to do with the attack.

The victims were all from Barangay Paitan in neighboring Sual town and were temporarily residing in Bugallon, police said.

Attack on cop

In Nueva Ecija, two men shot and killed a police officer assigned to the drug enforcement unit of San Isidro town on Wednesday, a belated police report said.

SPO2 Reynaldo Mesina Jr., 53, was attacked by the men as he drove his motorcycle through Barangay Poblacion in San Isidro. Although wounded, Mesina managed to seek cover at a road canal until he was rescued and taken to the hospital by people in the neighborhood.

But he died from gunshot wounds in the abdomen and thigh during treatment, said PO2 Nestor Balagtas, the police officer assigned to the case.

Drug suspect slain

Eight hours later, in neighboring Cabiao town, gunmen attacked a man and a woman on a motorcycle at 1:20 a.m. on Thursday in Barangay San Fernando.

Killed was the motorcycle driver, Buenaventura Garcia, 45, who, police said, was facing a string of drug trafficking cases in Cabiao and San Isidro.

Garcia’s companion, a 29-year-old woman, survived with gunshot wounds in the right leg and left arm. She was taken to a hospital in Cabiao. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon