1 dead, 2 hurt as man fires upon van in QC

A WOMAN died while two other passengers in this van were wounded after it was strafed on Tuesday night. Lyn Rillon

A murder charge will be filed against the son of a high-ranking police official who admitted shooting the passengers of a van in White Plains, Quezon City, on Tuesday evening because he thought they were armed men out to get him. One of the passengers later died while two others, including the driver, were wounded.

The police also recommended two counts of frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms against Jose Maria Abaya, a 50-year-old businessman and resident of Capital Towers on E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, according to Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU).

“I got jittery. I thought [they were out to get me] so I opened fire,” Abaya, son of former Philippine Constabulary General Antonio Abaya, told reporters in an interview on Wednesday. He remains in the custody of the QCPD-CIDU.

The suspect who has a history of drug abuse also said he was the nephew of former Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Narciso Abaya although the latter had previously referred to him as a third cousin.

Shortly after the 6:45 p.m. shooting incident on Katipunan Avenue, Abaya surrendered to the police and handed in his .40-cal. Glock firearm.

A woman seated in front of the van, 41-year-old assistant bank manager Joyce Santos, 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 in the back and would need to undergo an operation.

The third victim, Duke Angelo David II, a management trainee of a Japanese fast-food restaurant, was treated for a gunshot wound in the left arm.

The van, a “colorum” vehicle (without a transport franchise) plying the SM Megamall to San Mateo route, had 16 passengers. The police said the other riders could not be located after the incident.

Abaya, who escaped from a drug rehabilitation facility in Parañaque City in 2012 and then shot the security officer sent to his house to take him back, insisted that the van passengers were armed men following him.

The homicide case in 2012 involving a .357 pistol was dismissed, Abaya told reporters. He was later taken to another rehabilitation facility in Laguna province.

“I saw them produce a rifle,” Abaya said of the van passengers. “While driving [my motorcycle] I was assessing what was going on. There was the driver, of course, and a passenger on the right side, [both] 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 are sleeping. They’ll strangle you or beat you up,” he added without indicating who he was referring to.

A witness, Eulogio Cardinoza, driver of a Nissan UV Express, told investigator PO3 Victor Guerrero that he helped fix the Hyundai van when it stalled in front of a stall on Katipunan Avenue where Abaya was eating.

When Abaya got on his motorcycle to leave, the van’s engine was fixed and it also left the area.

On 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 drove past the van and fired at the front windshield. Investigators later recovered 11 .40-cal. casings at the scene.

According to Marcelo, Abaya’s gun would undergo a ballistics test and cross matching. He said that the suspect, however, could refuse to be tested for drugs since he was arrested in connection with a shooting incident, not over an illegal drugs case.

Senior Insp. Elmer Monsalve, QCPD-CIDU homicide chief, said that Abaya was arrested and charged in 2014 by Eastwood station policemen after he was caught with illegal drugs and a Glock 22. He tested positive for drug use then. He is currently out on bail for the two ongoing cases.