Robbers kill Laguna trader

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines  – Three unidentified men shot dead a 39-year-old businessman after ransacking his convenience store in Cabuyao City and then dumped his body into a canal Saturday night, police said.

Upon receiving a report on the case, Chief Superintendent James Melad, Calabarzon police director, immediately ordered Senior Superintendent Fausto Manzanilla, newly installed Laguna police director, to form a team to go after the killers of Joseph Pagcaliwagan, owner of the Milka Convenience Stop in Barangay Mamatid, Cabuyao City.

Melad said the three men barged into Pagcaliwagan’s store as he and his three helpers were preparing to close the establishment.

Superintendent Arnel Gongona, Cabuyao City police chief, said Pagcaliwagan tried to fight off one of the robbers while the two others were ransacking the store.

The three robbers then took Pagcaliwagan outside the store and shot him in the head and abdomen.

The robbers escaped on Pagcaliwagan’s L-300 van and then dumped his body into a two-meter deep canal across the store.

Police recovered the van somewhere in the village two hours after the robbery.

Gongona said the robbers carted away cash, grocery items, cell phones and jewelry amounting to half-a-million pesos.