Armed men wearing military camouflage uniforms strafed the home of Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri in Quezon City while the government official was still inside.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD-CIDU), said that no one was injured in the strafing.

In a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin, Neri said he fears for his life.

“I am concerned. It was totally a surprise to me,” he said.

Asked if President Arroyo already knows about the attack on his home, Neri said, “She hasn’t called me yet.

Asked by reporters as he left his house for work about who could have been behind the strafing, Neri said, “I have no idea.”

In a television interview, Neri indicated he didn’t think the men were out to kill him.

“I guess if they wanted to liquidate [me] they could have gone in. Marami sila kasi I don’t have that many guards,” Neri said.

President Arroyo and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, and Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. were informed of the attack and have ordered the police to investigate.

Elenzano said around 10 men, mostly armed with M16 rifles, were involved in the strafing of Neri’s home at around 8:50 a.m.

“It seems that the intention was to scare,” Elenzano said.

The strafing damaged the house’s front gate, glass doors and windows, and Neri’s white Toyota Hi-Ace (NTO-453).

The strafing happened while Neri was still inside the home. Also at home were a nephew, three maids, the several of Neri’s security personnel.

Citing accounts of witnesses, Elenzano said that the suspects wore camouflage uniforms and arrived in two Hyundai vans.

The men disarmed Jun Santillan and Renato Vallesan, Neri’s security guards, who were at the front gate waiting for the SSS chief to leave for work.

They told the guards to drop down and began strafing the house.

The men then boarded the vans and sped off.

Police later found the vans abandoned along Cetacio Street in Barangay Sienna, five blocks from Neri’s house.

Elenzano said the suspects were seen transferring to a white Toyota Hi-Ace and a white Mitsubishi L300 van with the plate numbers covered by a sign that read: “Relief goods operations, do not delay.”

Santillan said he didn’t think the men, some of whom wore balaclavas, were military men.

Neri was taking a shower when the two-minute attack happened, damaging his gate and his vehicle parked in front of house. He was unhurt.

Neri was connected with the controversy over the $329 National Broadband Network contract between the government and China’s ZTE Corp, which also involved First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos.