Gunmen kill 2 cops at Batangas town checkpoint

BATANGAS CITY—Two police officers were shot dead by two gunmen on board a motorcycle whom they flagged down at a checkpoint in Balayan, Batangas on Tuesday, a police official said yesterday.

Chief Insp. Elpidio Ramirez, Balayan police chief, said the victims—PO1 Oliver Ilagan, 28; and PO1 Christopher Tria, 26—suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Ilagan was dead on the spot while Tria died at the Western Batangas Medical Center.

Ramirez said the gunmen, instead of stopping at the checkpoint, opened fire at the two in Barangay Ermita Junction at 10:30 p.m.

Despite their wounds, the policemen were able to return fire, wounding one of the suspects.

The two policemen, however, were unaware that the two gunmen were with five other gunmen, said Ramirez.

He said the suspects took the policemen’s M-16 rifle and two side arms and commandeered their patrol vehicle. “They needed the patrol car, apparently to evacuate their wounded companion,” said Ramirez.

Policemen from the town of Tuy were passing by Balayan and heard the gunshots.

The fleeing suspects fired at the tires of the vehicle carrying the policemen from Tuy, who continued to give chase even as their vehicle ran on a flat tire.

The suspects were forced to leave behind their motorcycle and the police patrol car that they commandeered, flagging down a motorcycle and introducing themselves as communist guerrillas.

The motorcycle that the suspects took, however, ran out of gas, forcing them to flee on foot.