Cops rule out politics in QC election day slay

The Quezon City Police District ruled out politics as a reason behind the killing of a nephew of a candidate in the barangay (villagE) elections on Monday, saying the victim was himself a suspect in an earlier attack stemming from a personal grudge among neighbors.

“It may actually be part of a series of vendetta killings over an incident last month,” QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit homicide section head Insp. Elmer Monsalve said of the shooting that killed Bayani Tabirao, 42, on P. Florentino Street in Barangay Sto. Domingo.

Monsalve noted that Tabirao was facing a complaint for frustrated murder in the city prosecutor’s office over an alleged attempt to kill former Barangay Sto. Domingo councilor Constancio Albo on Oct. 4 also on Florentino Street.

The officer said the attempt on Albo’s life could also be linked to the Sept. 3 killing of Barangay Sto. Domingo councilman Ramon Igarta, who was gunned down at the corner of Biak-na-Bato and Florentino streets.

He said Igarta was a distant relative of Tabirao, and that Albo had been suspected to be behind the attack on his neighbor Igarta.

The QC police have arrested three suspects in Monday’s incident: James Mendoza, 33, of Binangonan, Rizal province; and Mark Christopher Lee, 25, and Oscar Ogena Jr., 37, both of 26 P. Florentino Street.

According to Monsalve, a witness claimed seeing the three suspects talking with two unidentified men who later turned out to be both armed with pistols, moments before Tabirao was killed.

The witness said it was Mendoza who brought the two men to P. Florentino Street using his Mitsubishi Lancer, while Lee was heard pointing one of them to Tabirao, who had just cast his vote in the barangay elections.

The one Lee spoke to shot Tabirao in the back of the head, while the other unidentified man also drew a pistol to scare away onlookers.

Tabirao was brought to Capitol Medical Center, where he died about an hour after the attack.

The three arrested suspects, who denied involvement in the killing, were charged with murder Tuesday in the City Prosecutor’s Office.