PNP official close to Mayor ambushed

MANILA, Philippines - A controversial police official and close friend of jueteng whistleblower Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor survived an ambush yesterday in Quezon City.

Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan, of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Personnel Holding and Administration Office at Camp Crame, sustained gunshot wounds in the arms, right shoulder, and chest.

Doctors at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center operated on the victim, who is still in critical condition.

Metro Manila police chief Director Roberto Rosales said it’s too early to tell whether the ambush on Cauyan is related to the case of Mayor, who was shot dead along MIA Road in Pasay City last Feb. 28.

Cauyan went public shortly after Mayor’s death and claimed that he could identify the group behind his friend’s death.

Investigators also invited Cauyan for questioning after his police identification card was recovered inside Mayor’s vehicle after the ambush.

Cauyan said that Mayor, who was a dealer of his medicine in Bicol, borrowed the police ID two years ago because of the vehicle number coding. Cauyan said Mayor failed to return the ID.

Cauyan was scheduled to meet with this reporter yesterday but was ambushed at the back of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) building along East Avenue in Quezon City at 11:40 a.m.

Superintendent Maristelo Manalo of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Cauyan was in the driver’s seat of his maroon Nissan Navarra parked along Magalang street when the suspects, riding tandem on a motorcycle, fired at him with an Uzi machine pistol.

Manalo said Cauyan was hit five times in the left arm, thrice in the right arm, and once in the right shoulder. A slug was embedded in his right chest.

Cauyan managed to drive his car to a safer location despite his wounds. The suspects immediately fled.

Cauyan played a key role in the dismantling last year of a syndicate behind the illegal registration of vehicles at LTO.

NCRPO agents arrested two LTO employees in a series of raids.

Rosales directed Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), to dig deeper into Cauyan’s ambush.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, QCPD investigation chief, said the motive of the attack has not yet been established.

Witness Jose Lapuz said he helped Cauyan get out of the vehicle after the shooting incident.

Police recovered from Cauyan’s vehicle a baby Armalite rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, several cellular phones, a Louis Vuitton bag, and copies of The STAR. – With Jerry Botial