White Plains shooter thought armed men were ‘out to get him’

A murder complaint will be filed against the son of a former general who admitted shooting the passengers of a van in White Plains, Quezon City, Tuesday evening, because he thought they were armed men out to get him.

Police have also recommended two counts of frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms against Jose Maria Abaya, 50, businessman and a resident of Capital Towers, E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, said Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

“I got jittery. I thought it was about to happen, so I opened fire,” said Abaya, son of former Philippine Constabulary general Antonio Abaya, in an interview.

He claims to be the nephew of former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya, but the latter acknowledged him in a 2012 television report as a third cousin.

Shortly after the 6:45 p.m. shooting along Katipunan Avenue, suspect Abaya surrendered to the QCPD-CIDU his Kawasaki Z1000 motorcycle (ND 19092) and his .40-cal. Glock 22 Austria.

A woman in the front passenger seat, identified as Joyce Santos, a resident of Marikina City, was hit in the head and declared dead at a hospital.

The driver of the white Hyundai van (TWJ 722), Ronebert Ycot, a traffic enforcer of the Marikina City government, was hit by a bullet in the back and will undergo surgical operation.

Another victim, Duke Angelo David II, store manager of Tokyo Tokyo, was discharged after receiving treatment for gunshot wound on the upper left arm.

The van, a colorum vehicle plying the SM Megamall-to-San Mateo route, had 16 passengers. Police said the other passengers could not be located after the shooting.

Abaya, who escaped from a rehabilitation facility in Parañaque City in 2012 and killed the security officer who came to his house to fetch him, insisted that the van passengers were armed men and they were following him.

The homicide case in 2012 involving a .357 pistol was dismissed, Abaya said. Then he was brought to One Algon in Laguna, another rehab facility.

“I saw them produce a rifle,” Abaya said of the van passengers. “While driving, I was assessing what was going on. There was the driver, of course, and a passenger on the right side, they’re men. While overtaking, I saw another man and a child at the back.”

“I’m pretty sure they were (after me). It has happened so many times. Sometimes, they’ll get you while you were sleeping. They’ll strangle you or beat you up,” he said.

A witness, Eulogio Cardinoza, driver of a Nissan UV Express, told the investigator, PO3 Victor Guerrero, that he helped the Hyundai van when it conked out in front of Lapid’s Chicharon, where Abaya was eating.

Incidentally, when Abaya got on his motorcycle to leave, the van’s engine started.

As they were traversing Katipunan Avenue near the boundary of White Plains and St. Ignatius village, Abaya overtook a Pajero between him and the van and started firing at the driver’s side. Then he went past the van and continued firing at its front.

Investigators recovered 11 .40-cal. fired cartridge cases at the scene.

Abaya’s gun will undergo ballistics exam and will be cross-matched with other unsolved shooting incidents, according to Marcelo. He said the suspect could invoke his right to refuse a drug test since it was a shooting case and not an illegal drugs case.

Murder, a non-bailable offense, was recommended by the police “considering the wanton shooting of the defenseless victims,” Marcelo said. Erika Sauler