Metrobriefs

4 suspected car thieves killed

Four suspected car thieves were killed in a shootout with police after midnight Tuesday in Caloocan City. Chief Inspector Rodrigo Soriano, head of the Caloocan City police investigation unit, identified one of the men as Michael Casiguran, 34, a Quezon City resident. His cohorts have yet to be identified. “The suspects, who were on board a taxi with plate number TYU 560, were intercepted at a checkpoint on B. Serrano Street. Instead of stopping, though, they drove on and opened fire at the police,” Soriano said. Casiguran and one of his cohorts were killed on the spot while other two were taken to President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital where they were declared dead on arrival. Retrieved from them were three .38-cal. revolvers and a 9-mm pistol.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay

Victim’s friends ask cops for help

A group of men in Tondo, Manila, is now trying to track down the killers of one of their friends through Facebook, a social networking site. The friends and high school classmates of 31-year-old John Pious Rodriguez, who was shot dead at around midnight on Friday, went to the Manila Police District on Tuesday to ask for help. Niño Allan Gonzales, John Paul Lazarte and Erwin Bareta told the Inquirer that they were engaged in boisterous conversation while having a few drinks at Parola Compound when two men approached them and asked if they were laughing at them. Gonzales said he tried to pacify the two men but one of them shot Rodriguez in the back as his companion hit Lazarte with a piece of wood. A neighbor later identified the man who hit Lazarte as Gregory Tan and the gunman as Alfredo Bocio Francisco.—Jaymee T. Gamil

CD, DVD vendors offered aid

Vendors of pirated CDs and DVDs in Quiapo, Manila, will be offered financial assistance if they will find a legitimate alternative livelihood, an official of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos told the Inquirer Tuesday. Ruben Guiling, regional director of the commission, said that they were coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry, Development Bank of the Philippines and other government agencies providing financial assistance and training to small-scale entrepreneurs. Guiling said that of the vendors who were affected by a ban on the sale of pirated discs in Manila, 90 percent were Muslims.—Maricris Irene V. Tamolang