Four killed in Cadiz, Army men suspects

From the Visayan Daily Star (Mar 22): Four killed in Cadiz, Army men suspects

All within about 12 hours yesterday a barangay kagawad and three others were killed, while three were injured in shooting, hacking and stabbing incidents in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, with Army soldiers among the suspects

The police has placed Army Sgt. Zosimo Mariquit, PFCs Pat Lopez, Jhonryl Postrado, Franklin Delamor, Gerald Dator and Darrel June De Leon of the 62nd Infantry Battalion under its custody, pending investigation of a shooting incident that left two dead and three injured at about 4:20 a.m. yesterday in Purok Azucena, Brgy Banquerohan, Cadiz City.

The six Army soldiers were immediately subjected to paraffin tests, to determine who among them fired the shots that killed were Mark Hipone Zarraga, 21, a fishpond laborer of Purok Dungca-an, Brgy Tinampa-an,  Cadiz City, and  Charice Decara Solitario,  15 and a grade 8 student of Binangca-an, Brgy Daga Cadiz City, Supt. Edel Jose Manzano, Cadiz City police officer-in-charge, said.

  Tricycle driver Jerry Carampatana Mesa,  31, fishpond laborer Wilson de la Peña Baliquidang, alias Nick Nick Baliquidang, and Michael Monteban Carampatana, 17, of Purok Dungca-an, Brgy. Tinampa-an, Cadiz City, also sustained gunshot wounds, he added.

Investigations of the Cadiz City police showed that officials of a homeowners association requested the Army soldiers, who, according to Col. Francisco Delfin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, were conducting Bayanihan Team Activities in the barangay, for assistance after a shooting incident, as the suspects fled from the crime scene.

The Army soldiers on board a tricycle and accompanied by barangay tanods, chased a tricycle, where the suspects were among the passengers, Manzano said.

Based on the claims of Army soldiers, Manzano said they were fired at by occupants of the tricycle, who ordered them to stop. The Army soldiers fired a warning shot, but it was answered with a shot from occupants of the tricycle, he added.

This prompted the Army soldiers to return fire, Manzano said.

An improvised hand gun with a live ammunition of an M-16 rifle in its chamber, allegedly thrown by occupants of the passenger tricycle was recovered by Delamor, and endorsed by Mariquit to the Cadiz City police.

Also recovered at the scene were four spent shells of an M-14 rifle, three empty shells of M-16 rifle and a pellet.

Before the incident, Manzano said a certain Mark Dulin reported to the police that Baliquidang shot his companion, an alias Biboy, with an improvised hand gun. But Biboy was not hit, the police said.

Manzano said they will also subject the five high-powered firearms, endorsed to them by the Army soldiers, to ballistic tests today at the PNP Crime Laboratory in Bacolod City.

The six Army soldiers will be placed under police custody for 36 hours, he added.
But Manzano said charges will definitely be filed against them for the death and injuries of civilians.

Delfin, who described it as an unfortunate incident, said they will abide with and respect whatever will be the recommendation of the police after their investigations of the shooting incident, that reportedly involved Army soldiers.

Delfin said they are coordinating with the families of the victims, on what assistance could be extended to them, in coordination with the city government of Cadiz.

‘NO WHITEWASH'

Senior Supt. William Señoron, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, assured the families of the victims that there will be no “white wash” in their investigations of the incident.

Manzano, meanwhile, said the killing of Banquerohan kagawad Danilo Porras and his neighbor, Crispin de los Santos, in the same purok of the barangay, at about 5 p.m. yesterday, had nothing to do with the shooting incident.

This time, the stabbing and hacking incidents were triggered by personal grudges.
De los Santos, who was under the influence of liquor, entered the backyard of Porras, and stabbed him.

Porras, retaliated by hacking de los Santos with a bolo.

Both were declared dead on arrival at the Cadiz Emergency Clinic, Manzano said.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2016/March/22/topstory1.htm