2 killed, 3 wounded in shootout

BACOOR, Cavite – A policeman and a member of Mayor Jesse Castillo’s security force were killed while three others were wounded in an alleged shootout along NIA Road, Barangay Bayanan here Monday night.

Police Senior Inspector Alberto Capua, Bacoor police chief, identified the fatalities as PO1 Louie Natino, 31, a member of the Muntinlupa City police; and Rodrigo Dominguez, a member of the Municipal Task Force on Peace and Order, allegedly a security unit of Mayor Castillo.

Wounded were Carlos Cayabyab, 27, also a task force member who sustained a gunshot wound in his buttock; Carlito Degoncena, a member of a community security force, who sustained gunshot wound in the hip; and a still unidentified man who also sustained a gunshot wound in the hip.

Initial investigation showed that Bayanan Barangay Chairman Leonardo Ugalde dispatched a team to respond to the report of a certain Baby Nakpil that Natino was allegedly making trouble along NIA Road at about 8 p.m. Monday.

When accosted by the team led by Dominguez, Natino refused to give himself up, drew his gun, and fatally shot the former, forcing other members of the task force to return fire.

Natino was hit in the head and back while Dominguez in the head and chest, police said.

Natino’s wife Editha, 30, denied her husband was creating trouble as she argued that her husband was only confronting Nakpil over why the latter no longer got rice cakes (puto) from them.

However, she admitted that the shootout happened after her husband had come from a drinking session at home to celebrate her 38th birthday anniversary.

"My husband would not surrender his firearms to civilians like those members of the mayor’s squad," Editha told The STAR.

She accused the Armalite-wielding task force, particularly Domiguez, of starting the shootout. – Rene Alviar, Mary Jean Trias Aromin