Tanod shot inside barangay hall

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Police Office director Patrocinio Comendador is urging the barangay tanods to conduct frisking on suspects or any individual taken to the barangay hall for questioning.

This after Samson Bragat, a barangay tanod of San Antonio, was injured when a suspected robber, who was invited for questioning at the barangay hall, fired shots at the on-duty barangay tanods inside the building at around 1:50 a.m. yesterday.

Bragat sustained a gunshot wound to the back and is still under observation at the Cebu City Medical Center.

Prior to the incident, police said that the man was seen running along an alley outside the barangay hall where Ferdinand Mante, the barangay’s chief tanod, was sitting. When Mante asked the man why he was running, the latter alleged he was beaten by some bystanders prompting the tanods to invite him to the barangay hall for interrogation.  

But while inside the barangay hall, the suspect allegedly hid under the plastic table, pulled out a gun concealed in his groin area and shot the barangay tanods.

Aside from Mante and Bragat, other tanods Mardy Savedra and Ricky Puno were also around during the incident. They allegedly scampered away when the suspect fired shots but Bragat, who was left inside, was hit on the back.

The assailant, who was described to be about 5’4” to 5’5” tall, medium-built, and was wearing a dark shirt and short pants, then fled immediately.

Responding policemen recovered a metallic fragment of undetermined caliber of gun and a pair of Rider BRX black-brown color combination of slippers from the crime scene.

Investigation revealed that the suspected robber tried to victimize Verna Estor, 21, 4th year Management Accounting student of the University of the Visayas.

Estor, a native of San Jose, Catmon, was allegedly sleeping alone inside her rented room along Don Mariano Cui St. when she was awakened by the pain she felt on her head after the said assailant struck her head several times with a hard object.

This allegedly prompted the victim to get up and shout for help from her co-boarders causing the man to get alarmed and jumped out from the opened window of her room and fled.

Estor sustained contusions on the left side of her head and bruises on her left arm and was brought to the Visayas Community Medical Center for treatment.

Comendador said it is a judgment call for barangay tanods to frisk individuals, whether suspicious-looking or not, they take to the barangay hall for questioning for security reasons and to look for possible evidences from them. — Niña G. Sumacot/WAB   (THE FREEMAN)