Quezon mayor son’s killing: Ex-cop chief tagged as brains
At least 14 personnel of the Tayabas, Quezon police have executed affidavits that there was no shootout in a supposed law enforcement operation that resulted in the killing of the son of Sariaya Mayor Marcelo Gayeta.
The police officers said former Tayabas police chief Lt. Col. Mark Joseph Laygo instructed them to create a fake report and delete photos of the incident, according to National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Quezon office head Dominador Villanueva.
“When his men asked him if they would file an incident report... Laygo told them to wait for him... When he came back, he ordered his men to make a report that the person in their custody died in an encounter at a checkpoint,” Villanueva told The STAR.
A police report said Gayeta’s son Christian and his companion Cristopher Manalo were killed in a shootout with police officers who responded to reports of indiscriminate firing at a gasoline station in Barangay Baguio.
However, the NBI presented pictures showing Laygo and Manalo under police custody several hours before the supposed police operation.
Villanueva said probers have yet to establish the motive for the killing. He said it is likely that Laygo wanted to present the incident as an accomplishment.
Gayeta punched Laygo when the former police chief along with Pat. Robert Legaspi and Cpl. Lonald Sumalpong, who were also tagged in the killing, were presented during a press conference at the NBI headquarters yesterday.