Cop jailed for shooting barangay chief during argument about unpaid bar bill

Catbalogan City (Image from Google Maps)

ORMOC CITY — A police officer shot and wounded a female barangay chief inside a police station following an argument triggered by his refusal to pay P400 worth of beer that he and his companion drank in the woman’s restaurant in Catbalogan City in Samar.

PO2 Felix Donald Verzosa of the Samar Public Safety Company fired three times at Nimfa Rosal, 52-year-old chair of Barangay 6, hitting her in the left chest and in the right forearm.

The officer was jailed at the Catbalogan City Police Station, while the barangay official was taken to a hospital in the city for treatment.

According to investigators, Verzosa had a drinking session with 51-year-old Balbino Costo at the Twins Restobar owned by Rosal in Barangay 6.

When the officer was handed the bill, he refused to pay, prompting Rosal to call for police assistance.

One of the officers who responded was SPO1 Louie Legatub, who offered to lend Verzosa P400 so he could pay the bill.

But Verzosa refused, prompting his colleagues to bring him and his companion to the police station.

Rosal went along with them.

Inside the police station, she had an argument with Verzosa.

Before anyone could stop him, Verzosa drew his service firearm and fired at the woman.

Rosal was first taken to the Samar Provincial Hospital, but she was transferred to a medical facility in Tacloban City.

Supt. Edwin F. Barbosa, Catbalogan police chief, said the officers who arrested Verzosa would face administrative charges for failing to disarm the officer before bringing him to the police station. /atm