Lawyer survives slay try, runs over and kills attacker

A lawyer who survived an ambush was able to kill and wound his attackers, including a policeman, after he ran over them and shot them in Quezon City after midnight on Tuesday.

Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District director, identified the lawyer as Argel Cabatbat, a

resident of Tandang Sora, Quezon City, and a private lawyer of Carpela Du Naga Humarang and Associates Law Office.

In a press conference yesterday, Cabatbat said that he was with his driver and two other acquaintances he only identified as “John-John,” and “Rudy,” onboard his black Montero with conduction sticker B1S951 while heading home from Club Filipino in San Juan around 12:30 a.m.

Upon reaching the corner of East Avenue and EDSA northbound, he saw a man, later identified as John Paul Napoles, 27, onboard a motorcycle coming from his left side and was about to fire at them.

Napoles reportedly lost his balance and was rammed by the lawyer’s speeding SUV.

However, the second motorcycle with PO1 Mark Ayeras, 32, as the back rider, appeared and started firing at them.

Cabatbat said that “John-John,” who was sitting in the passenger seat, reached for the gun inside the car’s compartment and shot the attackers in front of them.

When PO1 Ayeras was shot in the body, he fell and was also hit by the car, while the unidentified rider escaped, bringing with him the gun used by the cop.

Responding officers rushed the two men to East Avenue Medical Center, but Ayeras was declared dead on arrival while Napoles is still undergoing treatment.

Police seized a .45-caliber pistol from Napoles and Cabatbat’s caliber 9mm Beretta pistol. Both motorcycles without plate numbers were also seized by police.

Cabatbat said he let “John-John,” and “Rudy,” which he described both in their 40s, to ride a bus going home to Nueva Ecija after the incident.

He added that he was only helping the two men in applying as messengers in his company.

Cabatbat, a lawyer for six years, said he believes the ambush is job-related as he is handling a case of a physician based in Mindanao. He refused to disclose details of the case.

Meanwhile, Eleazar said that Ayeras entered the police service in July 2010 and served a three-year stint at the QCPD Public Safety Battalion. He went AWOL or absent without official leave last August 2017 after he was transferred to the Regional Public Safety Battalion of NCRPO.