Land registrar ambushed in Tagaytay City; 4 suspects nabbed

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna—An official of the Land Registration Authority was killed in an ambush in Tagaytay City, Cavite, Tuesday afternoon,  police said.

Reynaldo Aquino, the registrar of deeds of Nasugbu, Batangas, was on his way home to a high-end subdivision in Tagaytay City when four men, riding tandem on two motorcycles, fired on the victim’s pick-up near the busy Magallanes Square, a commercial center in Tagaytay, around 4:30 p.m.

“They came from Batangas and were on their way home when attacked,” said Tagaytay City police chief Superintendent Danilo Buentipo, citing a  statement to the police made by Aquino’s driver, Edgar Estuista, who survived the ambush.

The driver sustained shrapnel wounds as he ducked for cover inside the vehicle, “pero pinuruhan ‘yung boss n’ya,” (they made sure he was killed) Buentipo told the Inquirer in a phone interview. He said Aquino died instantly.

It so happened that policemen were stationed near the ambush site and they chased the assailants up to Barangay (village) Sungay East near Picnic Grove, a popular tourist destination in the city, Buentipo said.  He said the assailants did not resist arrest when cornered by the policemen.

The suspects, who were identified as  Jun Villamor, 33, Julius Capongcol, 20, both from Imus City in Cavite,  Mark Anthony Villanueva, 26, from Tiaong, Quezon, and  Arwin Bio, 26, from Montalban, Rizal, were detained at the Tagaytay City police station.

Buentipo said the ambush was “possibly” related to Aquino’s job as a land registrar, but said they would have to coordinate with the Nasugbu police for a thorough investigation.

He said the suspects were “likely to be hired guns and did not know their target,” although he refused to say how he was able to say this.

The police recovered two .45-caliber guns from the suspects.