PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — A “person of interest” (POI) in the ambush of two municipal policemen in Taytay on Sunday is now in the custody of the Palawan Police Provincial Office (PPO) for investigation.
Chief Supt. Emmanuel Licup, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) Mimaropa, did not name the POI but disclosed that his house was only 17 meters away from site of the ambush at Sitio Nagtakayan, Barangay Bato, Taytay.
Firearms and several incriminating gears were discovered in the residence of the POI, Licup told the Philippine News Agency over the phone on Wednesday.
Asked if the POI is a suspected member of the New People’s Army (NPA), Licup said that is what their investigation intends to find out.
“We intend to find out if he was coerced to help the perpetrators of the ambush or does he have a direct participation in our policemen who were killed while responding to a vehicular accident,” he said.
In a spot report issued by the Palawan Police Provincial Office (PPO) on Sunday, it said at least 10 armed men perpetrated the ambush, which killed PO3 Alexander Mimbalawag and PO1 Julpitri Gustaham along the national highway of Bato, Taytay.
Licup is here to speak to the policemen in northern Palawan to boost their morale following the ambush of two of their colleagues.
He grieves with the families of Mimbalawag and Gustaham and went on to assure them that police and military operations are now ongoing to give justice to the victims. (Ernie Esconde/PNA)
