POLICE KILL 3 WHO SHOT ROOKIE
Fatalities identified as Arnel Hernani, also known as Alvin; Ramonito Maneja, also known as Duterte; and a certain Joseph PRO 7 Director Debold Sinas says PO1 Jaylord Joseph Taping confirmed that Hernani was the one who shot him earlier Hernani, Maneja an
Three suspected guns-for-hire were killed in a shootout with police in Barangay Lawaan 3, Talisay City on Friday afternoon, Nov. 23.
They were killed nine hours after one of them allegedly shot and injured PO1 Jaylord Joseph Taping during a surveillance operation in Tabunok, a neighboring barangay.
The fatalities were identified as Arnel Hernani, also known as Alvin; Ramonito Maneja, also known as Duterte; and a certain Joseph.
Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, Provincial Intelligence Branch head, told SunStar Cebu that his team and operatives of Talisay City’s Drug Enforcement Unit and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion were conducting a manhunt on the three men at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Hernani, Maneja, Joseph and a certain Rolando Valdez were reportedly involved in shooting Taping, while the cop and his team were conducting surveillance in Sitio Mananga 2, Barangay Tabunok eight and a half hours earlier.
Batobalonos said concerned citizens and barangay officials told them the three men were hiding in a house in San Jose Village in Barangay Lawaan 3.
When they arrived at the suspects’ house, they were met with gunshots.
Batobalonos ordered the operatives to cover all possible exits.
He and other police officials with him then urged the suspects to surrender, but the three wouldn’t budge.
“They were quiet when we asked them to surrender. That’s why we decided to go inside. When we entered the property, they fought back. They were ready for us,” Batobalonos said in Cebuano.
When the shootout began, the three suspects were hit one by one. They were rushed to the Talisay District Hospital, but were pronounced dead on arrival.
Based on initial information he gathered, Batobalonos said the suspects were hired guns and known troublemakers.
In an interview, Police Regional Office 7 Director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas told reporters that Taping identified one of the three suspects as the one who shot him earlier.
“This afternoon, we showed PO1 Taping pictures of the dead suspects. He confirmed that one of them, Arnel Hernani, was the one who shot him,” Sinas told reporters in Cebuano.
Sinas said the three suspects had threatened to shoot Talisay City police should the latter enter their turf.
Based on their background investigation, Hernani was also involved in carnapping.
Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena, Cebu Provincial Police Office director, said there is a big possibility that Hernani was a cohort of Joniel Abatayo and Abelardo Salomag, the two men who were found dead in Barangay Camp 8 in Toledo City last month.
“We know that alyas Alvin was involved in motornapping in Talisay. So there’s a possibility he was in cahoots with those who were killed in Camp 8,” Abrugena said in Tagalog.
Taping, who is recuperating in a private hospital, formally received the Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting from Sinas on Friday afternoon, Nov. 23.