Caloocan barangay chief gunned down

MANILA, Philippines - A barangay chairman of Caloocan City – reported to have links to the illegal drug trade – was shot dead by two unidentified men riding a motorcycle in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Edres Domato, 56, of Barangay 188 in Tala, was in his Toyota Fortuner along Quirino Highway when the assailants shot him at around 7:15 a.m., said Senior Superintendent Alex Alberto, Fairview police station commander.

He said the assailants fled a few minutes after watching Domato die.

Alberto said they are checking footage taken by closed-circuit television cameras in the area for images of the assailants.

No one knows where the victim was headed, he added, ABS-CBN reported.

“But based on how his car was parked, he was entering Quezon City,” Alberto said.

Domato’s son, Edson, told police his father had no known enemies.

‘Most dangerous’

Police describe Barangay 188 as the most dangerous place in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela) area.

In August last year, Caloocan Mayor Oscar Malapitan ordered the relief of the Tala station commander and Domato and the barangay council and tanods investigated after police raided 10 drug dens in Barangay 188 and arrested 21 people.

Director Benjamin Magalong, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said 14 search warrants covered the raid following reports of drug traffickers, contract killers and car thieves in the city.

Law enforcers seized a carbine rifle, five .45 caliber pistols, .38 caliber and .22 caliber revolvers, bullets, two hand grenades, drug paraphernalia and 17 stolen motorcycles.

Caloocan police chief Senior Superintendent Bartolome Bustamante said he tried to convince Domato to allow police officers to search his house following reports he was protecting drug pushers.

Domato refused to cooperate but agreed to demolish the drug dens, he said.

Barangay 188 has been the subject of raids in the past, including one that cost the life of a National Bureau of Investigation agent in 2013, Bustamante said.

There were earlier reports that people suspected of being police informants were killed and buried in vacant areas in Barangay 188 but Bustamante said the police cannot do anything unless someone identifies a victim and where they are supposed to be buried.