MAKATI AMBUSH The car driven by Mark Baggang took multiple shots from his attackers who unloaded an M16 rifle, a .45-cal. and a 9-mm pistol to ensure a hit. PHOTO BY JOAN BONDOC
Married to a village councilwoman, the man killed Friday morning at a gasoline station in Makati City— and whose bullet-riddled car yielded a pistol and packets of “shabu”—was a sort of a “Robin Hood” in his community, according to the local police chief.
Shocked family members rush to the site. PHOTO BY JOAN BONDOC
Mark Felizardo Baggang, alias “Dodong Bagang,” was described by his mother and his wife Iza as someone who was very approachable and who always “helped those in need” of quick cash or medical assistance in Barangay Pio del Pilar, said Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban.
But the ambush revealed another side of the man. “There is information that he was also involved in the illegal drug trade,” Lukban told reporters in a briefing hours after the attack at the corner of Evangelista and Aguilles streets in his barangay.
A witness said the 27-year-old Baggang was driving his black Toyota Vios (without a license plate) and had just stopped for gas around 8:25 a.m. Friday, when another car—a maroon sedan—stopped on the right side of his vehicle.
A man wielding an M16 rifle got out of the maroon car and fired at the Vios. Another man in the same car was seen drawing a pistol.
Police later recovered at least 70 bullet casings for M16, .45-cal. and 9-mm rounds from the scene, Lukban said.
Inside Baggang’s bullet-riddled car, the Makati police found a .22-cal. pistol, and several sachets of shabu (methampethamine hydrochloride) as well as drug paraphernalia.
“Some investigators say that drugs could be the reason (for the ambush), but it’s still subject to confirmation,” the police chief said.
According to the victim’s family, Baggang had been receiving death threats prior to Friday’s attack. “In fact, less than a month ago, he was shot at in front of their house,” Lukban said.
“He had been staying indoors (since the first attack). But today, apparently someone called him up. Without changing clothes, he got into the car and said he was just going somewhere,” Lukban said.
Baggang’s family members already had a suspect in mind, the same person who had sent him the death threats, he added. “Business-related,” he said, though refusing to elaborate.