Manila port union leader shot
MANILA, Philippines–The leader of a workers’ union based in Manila was shot and left seriously injured Friday night in Caloocan, only a few meters away from the city’s border with nearby Navotas.
Senior Supt. Florendo Quibuyen, Navotas chief of police, identified the victim as Guillermo Malipot Jr., 59, a resident of Sta. Maria in Bulacan province.
Malipot is president of the Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Pantalan of the International Container Terminal Services Inc.–Manila International Container Terminal.
The incident happened at 6:09 p.m. along C-3 Road.
“(Manila Central University Hospital) personnel called the police station around 10 in the evening, telling us that Malipot had been confined. They thought that the area where the crime was committed was within our jurisdiction, but when we conducted an ocular late this afternoon, we found out the crime happened in Caloocan,” Quibuyen explained.
While the case is as of 2 p.m. being turned over to the new investigators, Quibuyen said that the Navotas Police had still been able to cull information the former could use in the course of their investigation.
According to him, Malipot was driving a Mitsubishi Adventure when he was shot in the chest by one of two still-unidentified men on board a motorcycle.
He was at that time, accompanied by the union’s executive secretary, Thelma Carnaje, 55.
“The suspects positioned themselves in the driver’s side while Malipot and Carnaje were plying the road. When the victim was within range, the gunman fired at him, “Quibuyen explained.
Carnaje was unhurt, but Malipot had to be immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The gunman and his companion, for their part, fled the crime scene.
Police have not been able to recover the firearm used in the incident, but Navotas police said that this could have been a .45 cal. pistol based on the used shells recovered from the area.
