Police assault on Iloilo hotel room ends 22-hour standoff with lawman

ILOILO CITY—Elite policemen on Tuesday assaulted a hotel room in Iloilo City where an armed policeman holed himself up, ending a 22-hour standoff.

Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) units shot and wounded a certain PO2 Catedral in his right shoulder after he fired at the assault team just outside a room of the El Haciendero Private Hotel at Barangay Our Lady of Fatima in Jaro District.

Catedral, 28, was brought to the West Visayas State University Medical Center for treatment shortly after the assault started around 3 p.m.

Supt. Kim Legada, chief of the Iloilo City Police Office Public Safety Co., where Catedral is assigned, told reporters that criminal charges would be filed against the policeman including damage to property and reckless endangerment.

He would also be subjected to psychiatric evaluation to help determine what triggered his actions, according to Legada.

The standoff started about 5 p.m. on Monday after the hotel staff sought police assistance after they heard gunshots at Room 1 at the ground floor of the hotel.

But Catedral threatened to shoot anyone who would attempt to enter his room.

Police cordoned off the three-story 39-room boutique hotel as staff members and other guests were evacuated.

Negotiators who talked with Catedral through the door tried to convince him to surrender.

His wife, also a police officer, and family members also attempted to talk with the policeman.

Policemen who secured the building were constantly alerted by sporadic sounds of gunshots coming from inside the hotel.

Catedral, who underwent SWAT training, transferred to a room in the second floor of the hotel on early Tuesday and was at times seen standing shirtless through the room’s window.

He did not issue any demands aside from asking that he be left alone and for policemen not to assault his room. At one point on Tuesday morning, he asked and was given food.

Legada said 24 members of SWAT teams of the Iloilo City Police Office and Iloilo Provincial Police Office fired diversionary shots to confuse Catedral.

Insp. Shella Mae Sangrines, media relations officer of the crisis and management team, said Catedral opened the door of the room he was occupying and fired three shots at the members of the assault team which prompted them to fire back.

“We are happy that there was only minimal injury,” Legada said.

Legada said Catedral has not reported for duty for more than a month despite repeated efforts of his unit.

The policeman was convicted last year for direct assault but he appealed the case with the Court of Appeals where it is pending resolution.