5 men killed by cops in gunfights in Laguna, Rizal

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna —Five people, three of them suspected illegal drug pushers, were killed in separate shootouts with policemen in the provinces of Laguna and Rizal on Tuesday and Wednesday, police said.

In Laguna, Ricardo Andaya, a resident of Barangay Niugan in Cabuyao City, died in a firefight with policemen at 7:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Insp. Roselle Orate, spokesman of the Laguna police, said Andaya drew his gun after he realized he was dealing with policemen.

In Rizal, Jonathan Torres was also killed in a buy bust operation in Barangay Sta. Ana in San Mateo town at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police recovered a .38 cal. gun and a marked P500 bill from the slain suspect.

In Taytay town, also in Rizal, Billy Allan Mendoza died in a buy bust operation along the Tapayan Bridge in Barangay Sta. Ana at 11:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Police recovered from Mendoza a .38 cal. gun and two sachets of suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride).

Still in Rizal, two men were killed in a shootout with policemen in Rodriguez town at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A report from the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) regional police, said policemen were patrolling Barangay San Jose when they chanced upon the two men in a dimly lit portion of a road.
It was not known what the two men, who had yet to be identified by investigators, were doing there but as the policemen approached, they ran toward a vacant lot while firing at the lawmen.

The report said policemen fired back, hitting and killing the two men.

One of the policemen, Police Officer 1 Aladin Dizon, was wounded in the gunfight.  SFM