Village chair shot dead in Manila home
A barangay chair in Manila who earlier surrendered to the police under the “Oplan Tokhang” antidrug campaign was killed by unidentified assailants who broke into his house on Friday night. Angelito Sarmiento, chair of Barangay 751, Zone 81, was shot while he was sleeping in the living room. Witnesses said at least two intruders entered his house on Leyte Street in Singalong around 9:30 p.m. Sarmiento’s wife told the police that her husband used to be a drug user but he tested negative for drug use shortly after surrendering under Tokhang. PO3 Roderick Magpale, the case investigator from the Manila Police District, said the wife was in the bathroom when the gunmen entered the house and shot her husband five times. She later heard the two men talking, with one of them looking for her but was convinced by the other not to search the house and just leave. Sarmiento was brought to St. Claire Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m. The MPD has yet to come up with suspects as of Saturday. —Jovic Yee
Gun-carrying OMB man draws MMDA’s ire
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is set to file charges against a gun-carrying agent of the Optical Media Board (OMB) who allegedly bullied an MMDA-accredited towing crew who was clearing a Quezon City road of illegally parked vehicles on Wednesday. MMDA general manager Tim Orbos said he had been directed by newly appointed chair Danilo Lim to look into the May 24 incident and file appropriate charges against OMB agent Ronnie Tampingco. According to Orbos, the towing crew was about to remove four vehicles illegally parked near the OMB building at the corner of Scouts Tobias and Limbaga Streets around 9:30 a.m. when they were confronted by Tampingo, one of the vehicle owners. Tampingco approached team leader Larry Miravite and cursed him. He then briefly got into car and approached Miravite again, this time lifting his shirt to show a gun tucked in his waistband. He later drove his car away from the area. In a statement on Saturday, Lim, a retired brigadier general, said “we will not let this incident pass because we have to protect our people from abusive individuals, but we will not also tolerate our personnel who are engaged in illicit activities. We will also apply on them the full force of the law.” —Jovic Yee
Police kill suspect in Valenzuela cop’s slay
A 20-year-old suspect in the killing of a Valenzuela City policeman was shot dead in a manhunt operation that tracked him down in Antipolo City, Rizal, on Friday morning. Jaylord Lovina was killed in a joint operation by the Valenzuela and Antipolo police around 3 a.m. in an encounter in Sitio Calumpang Lower in Barangay San Jose. Arrested was Lovina’s 17-year-old live-in partner, who was turned over to the Valenzuela social welfare office. The couple were earlier tagged as suspects in the killing of PO2 Noel Cabanglan during a “drug validation” operation in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela, in the afternoon of May 23. Cabanglan was allegedly shot by Lovina as the officer was frisking him. The suspect then went into hiding. A search first led the police to Lovina’s house in Meycauyan, Bulacan, then to his grandparent’s house in Atimonan, Quezon, and later in Antipolo, his live-in partner’s hometown. According to SP04 Armando de Lima, one of Cabanglan’s colleagues who took part in the manhunt, the slain officer had been in the force for 10 years and took part in operations that led to the arrest of 41 drug pushers and users in Valenzuela. “He is a big loss to the PNP,” De Lima said in an interview on Saturday. Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian is set to honor Cabanglan with a posthumous award and scholarship grants to his two children, De Lima said. —Jodee A. Agoncillo
Navotas gov’t, BFAR give boats, nets to fisherfolk
The Navotas City government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) recently turned over P200,000 worth of equipment to local fishermen as livelihood assistance. A total of 281 recipients were given new fishing nets, while eight beneficiaries received motorized fiberglass boats courtesy of the BFAR. “We are truly grateful to our fishermen because of their service to the economy and culture. Navotas will not be known if not for them. It is only fitting that they receive help because their strength and diligence are the city’s treasure,” Mayor John Rey Tiangco said in a statement on Thursday. Only those who registered with the City Agricultural Office from 2016 to 2017 are included in the assistance program, which is now on its fourth year. Among the recipients was Marcelino Monteroso, 86, who is considered the oldest fisherman in the city.