CABUYAO, Laguna — Just hours after Wednesday afternoon’s killing of a homeowners’ association president, here, police encountered and killed one of two suspects in the crime.

Superintendent Dante Novicio, Cabuyao chief of police, said it did not take long for follow-up operatives to track down the killers of 32-year-old Teodoro Batallones, former president of the Mabuhay City  Homeowners Association, here.

Batallones was gunned down by two men riding in tandem on a motorcycle in Mabuhay City Subdivision in Barangay Pulo, here, around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Witnesses saw the killers make their getaway towards NIA Road in Barangay Gulod, prompting police to pursue them.

At 11 p.m., police spotted the suspects and their motorcycle but were fired upon by the suspects, later identified by probers as Romeo Pobeda and Diomedes Banalo.

A shootout ensued, during which Pobeda was killed and Banalo found an opportunity to elude arrest.
Lifted from the scene of the shootout were Pobeda’s .45-caliber pistol, two magazines and 22 live bullets, and a fan knife. (With a report from Lyka Manalo)

ANOTHER HOMEOWNERS’ PRESIDENT AMBUSHED

SUBIC TOWN, Zambales – A businessman who is also the current president of a homeowners’ association in this town is now in critical condition at a hospital after two unidentified men ambushed his van the other night.

Police said businessman Jimmy Castillo, of Phase 1 Block 7 Magdalena Homes Subd., here, was waylaid by two men riding on a motorcycle at 7:20 p.m. Thursday in Purok 3, Barangay Sto. Tomas, here.

Castillo was with his wife while driving home in his Hyundai Starex van (REX-270) when the gunmen struck. His wife survived the attack unscathed.

Castillo, who sustained three bullet wounds in the torso, was quickly taken by his wife to the Our Lady of Lourdes International Medical Center in Olongapo City after the attack.

His wife asked police to investigate the angle of land dispute in the attempt to kill her husband
She said her husband, in behalf of a group of real estate owners, have been fighting a subdivision owner who is claiming rights to the land they already bought. (Jonas Reyes)