Police dig deeper into Leyte ambush

PALO, Leyte – The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Eastern Visayas has formed a special investigation task group to focus on the ambush of a relieved Bureau of Corrections official and the killing of three of his companions Monday in Abuyog, Leyte.

Sr. Supt. Norberto D. Tuazon, Leyte provincial chief, said the task group will be spearheaded by the regional police.

Tuazon said Abuyog police station requested for such a group because it has not enough officers to put on the case.

He said Jail Sr. Supt. Geraldo Aro was in stable condition at a private hospital in Tacloban City where he was transferred from the Abuyog District Hospital.

Aro was travelling in a car to Tacloban to take an afternoon flight for Manila. As the car approached Cadacan bridge in Abuyog, armed men aboard two vans blocked its way started firing at Aro’s car.

His two companions, Corrections Officers Jelanie Almario and Randy Pantano, died at the ambush scene, while CO3 Nelson Padagdag succumbed at the Abuyog Hospital.

Also wounded was CTO1 Uldarico Mortezo who is recuperating in a private hospital in Tacloban.

Aro’s car was riddled with 77 bullets from an Armalite rifle.

Aro headed the Leyte Regional Penal Colony in 2016 when suspected drug lord Edgar “Egay” Alvarez was killed by a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Eastern Visayas who were searching his cell for illegal drugs.

The prison was reportedly a source of illegal drugs of another big drug lord in the region, Kerwin Espinosa.