Retired Superintendent Dante Buenaventura did not reach the Pagamutang Bayan ng Malabon (PBM) hospital alive due to multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.
Buenaventura, the city’s police chief from 1999 to 2000, was also the head of the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc. (PGBI) in Malabon.
Chief Inspector Napoleon Bataycan, station intelligence and investigation branch chief, said that Buenaventura was near his residence at 33 R. Diaz St., Merville Subdivision, Barangay Dampalit when he was ambushed by three bonnet-wearing men at around 8:30 p.m.
The suspects, armed with short firearms, positioned themselves on the roadside and waited for the former police officer to pass by aboard a makeshift banca as the area was under flood water.
Danilo Billedo, 50, Buenaventura’s boatman, told police that he was pulling the banca toward the dry side of the road when he heard sudden burst of gunfire.
Buenaventura fell instantly from the banca while Billedo was still hit by a stray bullet in his right forearm.
The suspects, Billedo added, fled on foot toward Del Rosario st. and disappeared in darkness.
Billedo sought the help of Buenaventura’s relatives who rushed the former police officer to the PBM where he was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Jaime dela Cruz.
Efforts made by the Malabon City police to apprehend the suspects were futile. At least three slugs and six empty shells of caliber .45 pistol were recovered by the police at the crime scene.
Bataycan said that two days before Buenaventura was gunned down, residents in the area have seen at least three men casing his residence. Probers also gathered that some persons have been inquiring about his routine days before the shooting incident.
"We are still investigating and we are hoping witnesses could provide descriptions of the suspects," Bataycan told The STAR.
Northern Police District Office (NPDO) director Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr. said he has formed Task Force Dante to quikcly identify and arrest the killers. He said they are now pursuing some leads to establish the motive of the killing. — With Jerry Botial