Cop, 4 kidnap suspects slain in Bulacan shootout

MALOLOS  , Philippines  —   A police officer and four suspected kidnappers were killed in an encounter in Barangay Sta. Lucia in Angat, Bulacan yesterday.

Superintendent Arthur Masungsong, head of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) in Luzon, died while being treated in a hospital.

Chief Inspector Reynaldo Lumactod, another PNP-AKG officer, sustained three gunshot wounds and remained confined in a hospital in Manila.

The slain suspects, who have yet to be identified, allegedly yielded various types of firearms. Two of their alleged cohorts escaped.

PNP-AKG operatives were responding to reports that Raziel Esguerra was taken from her residence in Laguna on Friday when they chanced upon the Mitsubishi Adventure used by the suspects, triggering a shootout, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said in a text message.

Esguerra’s brother sought police assistance after her captors demanded P15 million.

Carlos said the kidnappers were supposed to meet a relative of the victim at a gasoline station in Balagtas, but they decided to transfer to Angat.

Esguerra was rescued.

‘Fire by fire’

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said there would be no letup in the operations against ”the enemies of the state.”

“Fire by fire. There will be no ceasefire,” Dela Rosa said. 

He visited Lumactod and promised to shoulder his hospital expenses.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa kaniyang serbisyo. Sabi ko pagaling siya dahil marami pa tayong lulutasing mga kidnap cases (I thanked him for his service. I told him to get well because we still have a lot of kidnap cases to solve),” Dela Rosa said. He said he also met with the family of Masungsong. “Niyakap ko sila (I hugged them). No amount of words can compensate for their loss,” Dela Rosa said. – With Marc Jayson Cayabyab