BY RUBY SILUBRICO and STEPHEN LOUIE CHECA
SAN JOSE, Antique – Police in this capital town shot and killed two men during a hot pursuit yesterday in Barangay Madrangca.
Kenneth Henry “Big Boy” Tabaranggao, 30, of Mandurriao, Iloilo City and Vidal Allado, 49, of Pavia, Iloilo were hit on their chests. They attacked an intelligence officer at a bar, according to Senior Police Officer 1 Michael Grijaldo.
Tabaranggao, Allado and three other men allegedly ganged up on Police Officer 2 Dennis Corcolla after a confrontation at Royalty Tower Lounge, a bar in Barangay 5, at around 2:30 a.m.
Corcolla, a San Jose police station intelligence officer, was having a drink with an “asset” (undercover agent) while the suspected attackers were at another table, Grijaldo said in a phone interview.
The men grabbed Corcolla’s service firearm (a .9mm pistol) and wallet, and fled, said Grijaldo.
The incident prompted Corcolla to request aid from the San Jose police station. A team led by the municipal police head, Senior Inspector Marc Dado, launched a hot pursuit.
COP STARTED TROUBLE?
An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity said Corcolla started the trouble at Royalty Tower Lounge.
“He (Corcolla) was too drunk and unruly. He was ogling a woman companion of the group, and when the woman left, he started uttering insults,” the witness said.
“The group confronted him (Corcolla). Turning defensive, the officer tried to draw a gun from his waist but one from the group grabbed it and hit him on the head. The others mauled him and left,” added the witness.
SHOTS FIRED
A trade of gunshots ensued when the pursuing police officers cornered Tabaranggao and Allado, police said.
Tabaranggao had two gunshot wounds on the chest while Allado had three. Personnel of San Jose’s Emergency Medical Services pronounced the two “dead on the spot,” the police said.
Scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) recovered Corcolla’s firearm from Allado and found a .22 pistol with four live bullets in Tabaranggao’s possession, said Grijaldo.
In addition, they seized six sachets of suspected shabu from Tabaranggao and another sachet from Allado, and found 13 empty shells of a .9mm pistol at the crime scene.
The police identified Allado as a lodging house caretaker and Tabaranggao a “Tokhang surrenderer.” Both were temporarily residing in Barangay Madrangca, the police said.
Their companions – Allado’s nephews John, 29, and Louis, 23, both of Pavia, Iloilo, and Reynald Jordan of Barangay Madrangca – were arrested. They were detained at the San Jose police station.
‘NO INTENTION TO KILL’
“Our officers had no intention to kill them,” Grijaldo said. “In fact, there was a negotiation for their surrender, but they fired at the police.”
The SOCO conducted a paraffin test on the fatalities at the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital morgue.
Tabaranggao’s sister Josie Ann, on the other hand, claimed that her brother wanted to turn over the firearm to the San Jose police station and asked Allado to accompany him.
She added that Tabaranggao just completed a drug rehabilitation program of the local police and was applying to become a tanod (watchman) in Barangay Madrangca.
Senior Inspector Marc Dado, San Jose police chief, confirmed that Tabaranggao was one of the drug suspects who previously surrendered to the police but, based on their intel, he continued to sell drugs./PN
