CALAMBA CITY , Philippines – A junior police officer identified with slain suspected gambling lord Vic Siman was gunned down Saturday night in this city.
Police Officer 2 Rufino de Ocampo Mendoza was having a meal in an eatery at Crossing here when two men on a motorcycle pulled up and opened fire with a caliber .45 handgun at around 10:45 p.m.
Mendoza died at 3:30 a.m. yesterday at the Calamba Medical Center.
Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, head of the Calabarzon police, said he had ordered probers to look into possible links between the murder and the killing of Siman along with 12 companions in Atimonan, Quezon on Jan. 6.
President Aquino is still studying the report of the National Bureau of Investigation on the Atimonan killing.
Members of the joint police-military team involved in the killing have been grounded, with top officers sacked from their posts.
Estipona said investigators are looking into reports that Mendoza was among the targets in Coplan Armado, the police operation plan whose principal target was Siman.
Calamba police chief Superintendent Caesar Tannagan told The STAR Mendoza had received death threats shortly before the attack.