Peers raise bail money for cops charged in Mandaluyong shooting

A crime scene investigator tags one of the victims in the Dec. 28 shooting incident in Mandaluyong City. —AFP PHOTO

Colleagues passed the hat to help nine Mandaluyong City policemen post bail in connection with the Dec. 28 shooting incident where they fired at the wrong van and killed two people and wounded two others.

PO 1 Jave Arellano, Alberto Buag, Mark Castillo, Tito Danao, Kim Tibunsay, Bryan Nicolas, Julius Libuen, Alfred Uribe and PO2 Nel Songalia were released from jail on Friday after paying a P25,600 surety bond, or 20 percent of the P128,000 bail set for each officer.

But they were sent to the National Capital Regional Police Office where they remain under restrictive custody, according to Senior Supt. Florendo Quibuyen, the Eastern Police District (EPD) director for operations.

Quibuyen said Mandaluyong police and EPD officers chipped in to raise funds for the nine respondents, who face charges for two counts of homicide and two counts of frustrated homicide.

The P128,000 bail for each officer—P40,000 for each count of homicide and P24,000 for each count of frustrated homicide—was recommended by City Prosecutor Bernabe Augustus Solis.

“Kawawa naman sila (They are a pitiful lot),” said Quibuyen. “They could not come up with the amount by themselves. The incident happened in the performance of duty. They did not intend to kill. Some of them were traumatized as well.”

Senior Insp. Maria Cristina Vasquez, their team leader, underwent preliminary investigation on Monday and remained under the restrictive custody.