Over alleged involvement in rubout case: 6 Baliuag cops relieved

MALOLOS CITY — Six operatives of the Baliuag police, including the police chief and another ranking officer, were relieved from service last Monday over alleged involvement in a shootout with suspected robbers, who turned out to be innocent civilians, in a local video bar.

Superintendent Myrna Reyes, the administrative officer of the provincial police office identified the relieved officers as Baliuag police Chief Superintendent Jolly Dizon, Inspector Florencio Morales, SPO3 Primo Ubaldo, PO1 Vincent Villena, PO1 Oliver Ventura and PO1 Emilio Jalova.

Superintendent Christopher Montellano temporarily replaced Dizon, while his five men were re-assigned at the provincial police headquarters here.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan said a fact-finding team was created to investigate the alleged shootout. The team will be headed by Senior Superintendent Alfredo Caballes, regional chief directorate staff officer-in-charge.

Baliuag Mayor Romulo Estrella has sought the immediate relief of his chief of police and five of his men after two robbers and four civilians were killed in a controversial police operation.

On Sept. 5, the Baliuag police reported that six suspected members of the notorious Shotgun gang, believed responsible for a string of robbery-holdups in Bulacan and nearby towns, were killed inside the Janet Videoke bar in Barangay Nayon.

The six fatalities were identified as Jayson Ramos, Hinorio Simbulan, Leovino Legaspi, Renato Balajadia, Daniel Piosca and Florentino Mallari.

However, only Ramos and Simbulan were the confirmed gang members while Legaspi, Balajadia, Piosca and Mallari were reportedly innocent civilians.

Legaspi was a retired sheriff from the regional trial court Branch 7 here, who works as a manager of the Lualhati Funeral Homes just across the Janet Videoke Bar. Piosca was a former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) and owner of an electronics shop. Mallari was a tricycle driver, while Balajadia just came to the area to pick up his wife, Rosemarie, who works as a dishwasher at the videoke bar.

The unusual silence of local officials and police officers in the province after the killing fueled suspicion that the incident would be whitewashed.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) has stepped in on Sunday and requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an emergency autopsy on the bodies of the four victims before they were buried.