ILOILO City – Suspected members of a criminal gang who engaged the police in a shootout in Arevalo district on May 7 were discovered to have criminal cases in court for murder, attempted murder and frustrated murder.
They have pending arrest warrants at the police station in Mandurriao district, according to Chief Inspector Juvy Navales, police commander of the district.
The four were John Rey Tiezo, Ryan Tiezo, Arnulfo Aliparo, and Reagan Gepulango, all residents of Tigbauan, Iloilo.
Navales said the four were accused of attempting to kill Lino Marañon, owner of a cockpit in Q. Abeto, Mandurriao, sometime in 2011,
Marañon sustained four gunshot wounds but survived the attempt on his life. His cockpit security guard, however, died, said Navales.
On May 7, the four men fired shots at the operatives of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Regional Intelligence Division (RID) then fled.
At around 4 p.m., policemen spotted the suspects at Villa Carolina Subdivision a few meters away from the house of Barangay Captain Visamin Cañal of Barangay Quezon, Arevalo.
The four fired at the cops then fled on foot, leaving behind their vehicle – a mid-sized white sport utility vehicle (plate number AXA-1141).
A grenade was recovered inside the vehicle.
Cañal, a first-termer barangay captain seeking reelection this May 14 election, believed the four men were targeting him.
The men’s vehicle was among several others he saw either passing by or parking near his house on May 6 and 7, said Cañal. He found the presence of these vehicles odd.
“Perhaps they were casing me,” said Cañal.
Chief Inspector Raul Bolido of the CIDG said they received reports that the four suspects have a “mission” in Arevalo – to kill an unnamed barangay official./PN
