Cop hurt in brawl over presidential bets

MANILA, Philippines - An off-duty policeman was stabbed while trying to break up a drunken brawl between two men fighting over their choice of presidential candidates bets of their choice late Sunday afternoon in Quezon City.

Senior Police Officer 2 Leopoldo Macaraeg, a resident of Barangay Bagbag, Novaliches and assigned to the Quezon City Police District’s Novaliches police station, is confined at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in Camp Crame for a stab wound in the abdomen.

Station commander Superintendent Ramon Perez said his men are hunting the suspect, identified as Henry Tera, 42.

According to police reports, Macaraeg was playing chess with a friend along the street when he heard a commotion a few meters away from him at around 4:30 p.m. Tera was then drinking beer with a neighbor identified only as Robert Torrifil, 22.

Perez said the two men were already drunk when they got into a heated argument over which candidate – Sen. Manuel Villar or Sen. Benigno Aquino III – would make a better president.

Macaraeg decided to intervene when the argument escalated into a brawl, but Tera whipped out a kitchen knife and stabbed him. Tera fled the scene, leaving the knife behind, while Macaraeg was taken by neighbors to the hospital.