ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Bicol police condemns cop's ambush-slay by NPA

Bicol police condemns cop's ambush-slay by NPA

Published Feb 2, 2022 03:06 pm

LEGAZPI CITY – The Police Regional Office in Bicol (PRO5) has condemned the New People's Army (NPA) for attacking government troops who were to serve a warrant of arrest in Sitio Tucao, Barangay JMA, San Miguel town in Catanduanes that killed a police officer.

Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo, PRO5 regional director, said the manhunt operation against two No. 1 Provincial Most Wanted Persons conducted by operatives from the San Miguel Municipal Police Station and First Provincial Mobile Force Company of Catanduanes Police Office on Tuesday, Feb. 1 ended in the NPA's brutal killing of SMS John Teston.

“Mariin naming kinukondena ang pananambang sa ating mga kasamahan sa San Miguel, Catanduanes kaninang umaga. Ito ay isang kasuklam-suklam na pangyayari at nagpapakita lamang ng karuwagan at kawalang pag galang sa awtoridad. Ang ating mga pulis ay naroon lamang upang gampanan ang kanilang mga tungkulin na ipatupad ang batas. (We are condeming the ambush against our fellow police officers in San Miguel Catanduanes early today. This is disguting and only shows cowardness and no respect to the authorities. Our policemen are just doing their jobs in enforcing the law)," Estomo said in a statement sent to reporters Tuesday night.

In a follow-up interview on Wednesday, Maj. Malu Calubaquib, PRO5 spokesperson, said Teston was assigned at the San Miguel Police Station.

"The police operatives were about to serve the warrant of arrest against two top provincial most wanted persons with 25 counts of rape and violation of PD (Presidential Decree) 705 (Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines). Sad to say, the police operatives did not get them and when they are about to withdraw in the area, they were attacked by more or less 15 rebels," Calubaquib said.

The police officers were fired at by the rebels while they were on their way back to the station, she said.

"As part of the directives of Brig. Gen. Estomo, troops from Catanduanes PPO, and 83rd Infantry Battalion were deployed to the area to ensure the safety of the other policemen. After the rescue operation, the other five policemen were rescued in the house of the barangay captain," Calubaquib said.

The rebels were able to get the cellphone, wallet, copy of the warrant of arrest, and service firearm of Teston, whose body was brought to the St. Peter Funeral Homes, in Virac, Catanduanes for post-mortem examination.

Recovered at the clash site was one empty bullet of a 7.62-caliber and 12 empty bullets of 5.56-caliber firearms.

Calubaquib said continued operations and investigation were being conducted to identify the suspects behind the police officer's killing.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.