BIR man slain by 3-member rob gang on Edsa

MANILA, Philippines–An officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was robbed and shot dead Monday at a gas station just about 10 meters away from his condominium building on Edsa, Mandaluyong City.

Based on an eyewitness account gathered by the police, Rolando Espina, a revenue officer who reported to the BIR main office in Quezon City, was seen having an argument with three men at a Total gas station in Barangay (village) Malamig around 5 p.m.

One of the men then pushed Espina and shot him twice in the head, while another grabbed his backpack as he fell to the ground, according to PO1 Edmundo Fabela, the case investigator.

The one who took the backpack ran toward the southbound lane of Edsa, another boarded a southbound bus while the third was seen running toward the Edsa-Reliance overpass.

Espina, 54, was brought by the Mandaluyong Rescue Unit to VRP Medical Center where he was pronounced dead around 9 p.m., Fabela said.

Robbery initially appeared to be the motive, but the police were not discounting the possibility that the attack on Espina was related to his work in the BIR, the investigator added.

Espina, who previously served as a revenue district officer in Borongan, Samar province, had no known enemies, according to his daughter who had spoken to the police.

Recovered from the crime scene were two .45-cal. bullet casings and a slug. The police have begun reviewing footage from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the gas station to check if it could help establish the identity of the assailants.–Vanessa B. Hidalgo