3 hired killers slain

CURRIMAO, Ilocos Norte – Three suspected guns-for-hire were killed in an alleged shootout with police in this town yesterday.

Donnel Guiang; Joseph Coloma, 17; and Glen Esteban reportedly fired at policemen serving a search warrant at the house of Guiang in Barangay TapaoTigue at around 5:30 a.m.

Police said they recovered several guns, a grenade launcher and explosives.

Chief Inspector Dexter Corpuz, Ilocos Norte police information officer, said a local court issued the warrant for illegal possession of firearms for Guiang’s father Delfin, said to be the leader of a gun-for-hire group.

Delfin’s group was tagged in the killing of Partas bus employee Ronald Cortes in Laoag City last month.

Corpuz said Coloma, a resident of Barangay 17 Samac in San Nicolas town, was a member of the Bermudez gun-for-hire group based in Pinili town.

A manhunt for the elder Guiang and his other cohorts is underway.