Ambush on 2 ‘hitmen’ in Manila while under police custody probed

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde yesterday ordered an investigation into the purported fatal ambush of two alleged contract killers in Manila while in police custody.

Albayalde directed the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) to look into the shooting, which occurred at the corner of Lacson and Fajardo streets in Sampaloc on Tuesday afternoon.

He also tasked National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Guillermo Eleazar to conduct a similar probe.

“I have asked the IAS and the NCRPO to investigate the incident and find out kung bakit nagkaganun,” Albayalde told reporters.

Initial police reports said Apolonio Flores, 37, and Prince Patrick Cortez, 32, were being accompanied by their arresting officers back to the police station after they underwent inquest proceedings when at least eight armed men on four motorcycles waylaid them.

The detainees’ two escorts, one of them Police Officer 2 Mark Delima, were allegedly disarmed by the assailants before they fired shots at Flores and Cortez.

Some quarters have raised suspicion that the two suspects were executed by the arresting officers.

Albayalde wondered why only two policemen escorted the suspects, whom he considered as high-risk detainees.

Flores and Cortez were arrested on Monday on charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives in relation to the Omnibus Election Code.

“When suspects undergo inquest proceedings, it’s but normal na kailangan merong police escorts,”Albayalde said.

MPD forms task force

The Manila Police District formed a special task force to investigate the attack on Flores and Cortez, according to MPD director Chief Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr.

Probers said the ambush could have been perpetrated by a group of guns-for-hire operating in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.

“It could be a reprisal coming from their group. If it is true that Flores and Cortez were hired killers, who wants them dead?” Danao said.

Four of the assailants allegedly forced the policemen to kneel down before they fired shots at the detainees inside the mobile car.

Delima and his colleague were also robbed of their service firearms by the assailants, according to Senior Inspector Philip Ines of the Sampaloc police station.

Homicide investigators said they requested copies of closed-circuit television footage at the scene.

In a television interview after his arrest, Flores had claimed he was paid P20,000 for each contract killing.

He tagged Cortez as his middleman. – With Marc Jayson Cayabyab