2 dead, 6 hurt in shooting at Rizal housing site
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CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — Two persons were confirmed dead while six others were wounded in a shooting between the personnel of a private land developer and some residents on a property being developed for a government housing project in Morong, Rizal, on Thursday.
Morong Mayor Armando San Juan said in a phone interview, that the shooting happened before noon after the personnel of Baque Corporation, a private developer subcontracted by the National Housing Authority, arrived at Sitio Talaga in Barangay (village) Maybangcal with heavy equipment to bulldoze the area.
“There was a dispute between the developers and the residents who were asking payment for some trees they claimed they planted on the property,” San Juan said.
He said two persons, a father and a son, then boarded a backhoe and took its operator hostage before firing shots at the employees of the land developer.
The company’s backhoe operator and a security personnel of the company died, while five more employees, including its head of security identified only as a retired Army colonel Pimental, were injured, said San Juan.
He said the injured were rushed to the St. Therese de Lima Medical Hospital in the neighboring town of Teresa.
A report from a police source identified the suspects as Nonoy and Miguel Avener, both armed with short and long firearms and who both escaped after the shooting.
San Juan said one of the Aveners was heavily wounded in the clash.
Senior Superintendent Rolando Anduyanl, the Rizal police director, confirmed the shooting happened but refused to give details in a phone interview Thursday afternoon as police were still tracking down the suspects.
A government employee in Teresa said policemen were deployed at the boundary of Teresa and Morong to prevent the suspects from passing through the municipalities.
The property is being developed for a government housing project intended for the victims of typhoon Ondoy and those who have been relocated from Manila, said San Juan.
