Another Manila cop ambushed

Manila, Philippines - A day after a traffic policeman was gunned down by still unidentified assailants in front of the Japanese embassy in Pasay City, another police officer was ambushed in Sta. Ana, bringing to three the number of Manila policemen killed in less than a month.

Police Officer 1 Manuel Garcia was riding his motorcycle home to attend to his sick wife after his night shift duty at the Smokey Mountain police community precinct in Tondo when a black sport utility vehicle with no plate number blocked his motorcycle’s path and started shooting him in the corner of Pedro Gil and Purisima streets.

Garcia suffered gunshot wounds in the head and body.

Police Officer 3 Rodel Benitez, officer on case, said people in the vicinity of the crime scene could not give a clear account of the attack.

Senior Police Officer 1 Jose Mora and PO3 Eric Tristan, who were in a patrol car, was first to arrive on the scene and narrated the incident to investigators.

Benitez said they are still trying to establish the motive for the killing and would be looking at the victim’s previous activities to determine if some people could have harbored a grudge against him.

On Friday, PO2 Jesus Lapuz was killed while he was pursuing men on motorcycles whom he had tried to accost for tailing a tourist bus. Another police officer, Senior Police Officer 2 Teofilo Panfilo, was reported missing three weeks ago. His body was found floating in Manila Bay a few days after he disappeared. He was reportedly killed by a criminal syndicate based in Isla Puting Bato in Tondo.