BACOLOD CITY — The chief of the Hinigaran Municipal Police in Negros Occidental was shot and wounded by a man who ran amok on Wednesday morning.
The Negros Occidental Police said Chief Insp. Jake Barila led the team that rushed to the residence of Victoria de Ysasi in Hacienda Manucao-A, Barangay Palayog at about 9:15 a.m., after her daughter Marie reported that her brother, Dabi de Ysasi, was acting violently.
Dabi was reportedly firing a .45-caliber pistol and was mauling his mother, threatening to kill everyone in the house if she does not give him money.
When Barila and his team arrived, the police chief tried to convince Dabi to calm down and surrender peacefully.
However, the suspect refused to listen and fired at the policemen, hitting Barila on the thigh. Barila returned fire and hit the suspect on the chest.
Barila was brought to the Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital, and Dabi to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, both in Bacolod City.
Provincial police director, Senior Supt. Rodolfo Castil Jr., who visited Barila at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, said Negrense policemen will continue to serve the people and even offer their own lives to maintain peace and order in the province.
On March 15, two policemen in Negros Occidental were also injured in a shootout with a murder suspect, who resisted arrest in Sipalay City.
Police Officer (PO) 3 Joy Pabera and PO2 Armando Luis Arsenal, both personnel of the Regional Mobile Force Company 6, received the “Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting” or the Philippine National Police Wounded in Action Medal from Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, director of the Police Regional Office 6 (Western Visayas).
The suspect, Emerson Antipaso Jr., most wanted by the Sipalay City Police, died in the shootout. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
