BACOLOD City – Armed men engaged police officers in a gunfight in Sitio Matab-ang, Barangay Masaling, Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
Ten persons – including four officers and two civilians – were wounded at around 4:45 a.m. yesterday, a police report showed.
Wielding a search warrant, officers from the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group units from Region 6 and Camp Crame were supposed to search the house of Rodel Taquiso and Salem Teodolo.
Taquiso and Teodolo were suspected of illegally possessing firearms in violation of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, the Nocppo said.
But several armed men fired at the arresting officers, prompting the latter to retaliate, said the Nocppo.
The village chief of Barangay Masaling said in a radio interview the armed men were believed caretakers of the house.
Nocppo said they were suspected members of the Galendez gun-for-hire group.
Taquiso and Teodolo were arrested along with six others – 41-year-old Jose Sambilad, 39-year-old Nomeriano Tiñosa, 33-year-old Mark Dela Cruz, 18-year-old Ricardo Melecoton, 25-year-old Gener Uldaim, and 39-year-old Joseph Taguan.
The injured civilians, on the other hand, were identified as Germenia Taquiso and a 13-year-old minor, Nocppo added.
Four officers from the Nocppo Provincial Mobile Force Company were wounded: Police Office 3 Reynaldo Bauden Jr., Police Officer 2 Rolando Prieto, Senior Police Officer 2 Bryan Tabon, and Police Officer 1 Gary Norico.
On the side of the armed men, injured were Chris Jun Taquiso, Raymund Melocoton, Romy Taquiso, and Lusino Demol Sr. They were considered arrested.
They have all been hospitalized. The eight suspects were confined at the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Kabankalan City while the police officers, at a hospital in Bacolod City.
Police recovered from the house three shotguns, a .38 revolver, a .45 pistol, two hand grenades, binoculars, several ammunition, 14 cellphones, and a belt bag, the police report stated.
Appropriate charges will be filed against the suspects, Nocppo added./PN
