Batangas mayor’s aide, cop killed in shootout

TAAL, Batangas — A civilian close-in bodyguard of this town’s mayor and a member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) were killed, while another policeman was seriously wounded during a shootout inside a videoke bar here Thursday night, authorities said.

Senior Inspector Virgilio Manimtim, Taal police chief, identified the fatalities as Gregorio Amponin, 54, bodyguard of Taal Mayor Librado Cabrera, and PO1 Francisco Argente, 25, assigned to the CIDG’s Batangas office.

In critical condition at the Jesus of Nazareth Hospital in Batangas City is Senior Inspector Raymond Perlado, 35, who was hit in the chest.

Argente died on the spot after a bullet lodged in his head. Amponin sustained 11 gunshot wounds. 

In a report, Superintendent Mark Edison Belarma, CIDG Region 4-A chief, said his men received a phone call from a concerned citizen at about 10 p.m. informing them that certain customers of the Lady Anne videoke bar in Barangay Kawit were creating trouble.

Belarma said CIDG men rushed to the site but were fired at as they were entering the videoke bar, hitting Argente and Perlado.

Manimtim, however, had a different version of what happened, saying that five CIDG men arrived at the videoke bar to drink but were barred by the floor manager, a certain Cathy, because they had a female companion.

Despite the manager’s refusal, the CIDG men insisted on entering the bar, Manimtim said.

While inside the bar, the CIDG men chanced upon Amponin with a gun tucked at his waist, prompting the police officers to confront and apparently to disarm him.

Reports said Amponin allegedly resisted, triggering a scuffle. Successive gunshots then rang out.

Manimtim downplayed the CIDG’s version, saying that if its men were having a "legitimate operation," they should have coordinated with the police first. 

Chief Inspector Danilo Morzo, CIDG-Batangas chief, refused to react to Manimtim’s statement, saying that everyone should wait for the results of the investigation. 

Police investigators found 18 empty shells and two deformed slugs from caliber .45 pistols inside the videoke bar. — With Ed Amoroso