Regional police command orders probe into Davao del Norte shootout

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Southern Mindanao regional police command has ordered an investigation into Tuesday’s shooting in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, in which two alleged robbers, two hostages, a police officer and a private security guard were killed following a robbery at an agricultural supply store.

Chief Superintendent Jaime Morente, Southern Mindanao police director, said it was not clear whether hostages Allen Polo and Irene Zamora were killed before or during  a shootout between the robbers and responding police who had caught up with the Mitsubishi Pajero the hold-up men had commandeered from the store’s owner.

“There could be possible operational lapses,” Morente said, acknowledging that the Pajero, owned by businessman Leo Lai, was riddled with bullets.

The alleged robbers, Dexter Marcillones and his unidentified companion,  were also killed along with Senior Inspector Rene Alampay of the Panabo City police office during the shootout.

Marcillones and his companion barged into Lai’s Yidong Agri Supply in Barangay Caganguhan in Panabo City around 1 p.m. Tuesday and declared a robbery.

Morente said that the local police office, alerted to the robbery, immediately sent a team to the store.

Seeing the responding policemen from a distance, Morente said, the robbers shot the lone security guard,  identified as Edgar Mucos, and wounded another man. After seizing some P900,000 in cash, the robbers then seized Irene Zamora, who was visiting Lai, and fled aboard Lai’s Mitsubishi Pajero which they commandeered along with its driver, Polo.

The responding policemen caught up with the getaway vehicle and engaged the robbers in a shootout, Morente said, adding it was at this point that the policeman Alampay was killed.

Morente said he ordered an investigation because both hostages were killed.

He said it was still not clear if the hostages were killed by the robbers before they engaged the police in a shootout or were killed in the exchange of bullets.

Investigators said the robbers were believed to have also been involved in a number of robberies in Davao City.

“Based on our surveillance operations, these were the same suspects in the robbery and killing incidents in Bunawan (district),” said Senior Superintendent Ronald dela Rosa, Davao City police chief.

Dela Rosa did not cite any specific case in Bunawan but added that heightened police vigilance, including the deployment of policemen on motorcycles, forced the robbers to operate elsewhere.