MANILA, Philippines - A police official warned the public yesterday against transacting with those in the flesh trade after police officers killed one of two men who allegedly posed as pimps and robbed a man seeking the services of a prostitute in Cubao, Quezon City.
“We advise them not entertain these people especially that these transactions happen on the streets in the unholy hours of the night or before the break of dawn,” Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 7 commander Superintendent Ferdinand Ampil said in an interview.
He said the slain suspect has yet to be identified but his body was riddled with tattoos, including one that indicated that he was a member of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gang.
Ampil said the robbery suspect was carrying a .38 caliber revolver. His cohort managed to escape at the height of the gun battle at past 2 a.m. yesterday along Oxford Street in Barangay E. Rodriguez.
Policemen from the QCPD-Station 7’s Intelligence and Investigation Branch also recovered from the slain suspect a backpack belonging to Joripageo Lopez.
Lopez, 28, told policemen he had just arrived in Cubao from Laguna and was on his way to his present residence in Tondo when he met the suspects.
“The complainant was walking along E. Rodriguez when he was approached by the two suspects and was offered the services of a female prostitute,” Ampil said.
Lopez accepted the offer and left with the suspects. However as they were walking, the two men robbed him of his belongings.
Lopez ran away and flagged down police officers patrolling the area in a multicab. He boarded the vehicle and joined the police in searching for the suspects.
The policemen found the two suspects walking along Oxford Street.
As the two suspects saw the police vehicle approaching them, they shot at the policemen, triggering a shootout.