Storm comes in 2 forms for Dave’s family

Two tragedies hit the Balgos family: one caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas, the other by a violent street encounter in Metro Manila.

The Makati City government on Saturday expressed outrage over the killing of one its civilian traffic enforcers, who was shot by still unidentified men while on duty early Friday.

According to his coworkers, 36-year-old Dave T. Balgos had been worrying over the past few days about his wife and 10-year-old son in Pontevedra, Capiz province, whom he had yet to contact after Yolanda devastated central Philippines last week.

Around 6 a.m. Friday, Balgos and two other colleagues from Makati’s Department of Public Safety were on their service motorcycles going to their posts on Makati Avenue when they saw two men also on a motorcycle beating the red light at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Ayala Avenue Extension.

The three traffic enforcers tried to flag down the motorcycle but were forced to give chase after the two men ignored them and continued moving along Metropolitan.

The two men eventually stopped at Mapua Institute of Technology. But as Balgos and his team approached them, the back rider drew a pistol and shot Balgos, hitting him in the right armpit.

The two men then fled toward Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue. Balgos’ colleagues brought him to Makati Medical Center, where he was declared dead at 7:05 a.m.

“We are saddened by the cold-blooded murder of an unarmed law enforcer who was just doing his job.  I have ordered the Makati police to prioritize the resolution of the case and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. said.

The mayor’s office also pledged to assist the victim’s loved ones—although their fates in Capiz remained unknown to the victim himself.

The head of the Makati police investigation division, Chief Insp. Reycon Garduque, said it was possible that the perpetrators were a team of robbers.

Witnesses were unable to take note of the plate number of the motorcycle used by the gunmen, who were also wearing helmets. Investigators on Saturday were checking nearby establishments for security camera footages.

Balgos, a resident of Barangay Cembo, Makati, had been working for the city government for seven years. His body was brought to Funeraria Pilipinas, also in Makati.