Party-list group bet shot, wounded

A Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officer and a nominee of an anti-crime party-list group in the May 14 elections was shot and seriously wounded by a lone gunman that barged into the victim’s house in Quezon City last Saturday afternoon.

Inspector Virgilio Acabal, a nominee of the party-list group Abay Parak, sustained four gunshot wounds in the head and two more in the body and is now in critical condition at the Far Eastern University Hospital in Fairview.

Police said Acabal was talking to his wife when the suspect who was armed with a .22 caliber pistol that was fitted with a silencer, barged into the victim’s house in Fairview and shot the fireman at around 1 p.m.

Witnesses said that another suspect acted as a lookout and stayed outside the Acabal’s house.

Police said the suspects escaped on board a motorcycle.

Quezon City Police District chief Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula said investigators are conducting follow-up operations to track down the suspects and determine the motive of the assassination attempt on Acabal.

Gatdula had assigned policemen to secure the fireman who is confined at the intensive care unit of the FEU Hospital.      

Probers said that aside from being an active party-list official, Acabal is also president of PARAC-NCR, an anti-crime group composed of policemen and firemen that was organized by former senator Robert Barbers.

Acabal is also vice chairman of the Ever Asia Guardians International, another anti-crime organization. The group’s chairman is Manila Standard Today reporter Joel Sy Egco.

Egco condemned the attack as he challenged authorities to immediately arrest the suspects.

“Members of the group are already holding meetings to discuss on how they could help the authorities solve this case,” said Egco.