Tondo procession marred by stabbing, shooting, stampede

MANILA, Philippines—Four persons, including a teenage girl, disrupted Friday evening’s  religious procession in Tondo by stabbing and wounding a 19-year-old boy with broken bottles then firing a gun and causing a stampede, police said.

The girl fled with her three cohorts following the attack and after breaking up the Sto. Niño procession on Nolasco Street in Tondo by firing a .38-caliber revolver twice in the air, sending participants scampering for cover.

Police Officer 3 Joe Cabuhat  of the Manila Police District  station in Moriones, Tondo, said that only Ronnie Boy Mendoza, 19, of San Antonio Street in Tondo, was wounded in the incident. He remains confined in an undisclosed hospital for treatment of multiple stab wounds in the body. Nobody was hurt in the stampede.

Cabuhat said the incident happened at around 7 p.m. while Mendoza and several other friends and neighbors were participating in the traditional Sto. Niño procession in Tondo. Unknown to the teenager, three men had armed themselves with empty bottles and had mixed with the crowd along with a female companion.

When the procession reached Nolasco Street, the three men broke the empty bottles and started attacking Mendoza. Apparently to prevent anybody from helping the teenager, the suspects’ female cohort drew a .38-caliber revolver and started firing in the air, causing a stampede.

Cabuhat pointed out that the suspects apparently took advantage of the confusion to flee, leaving behind the badly wounded teenager. Mendoza was taken to the nearest hospital by his relatives and friends.