6 men of prominent Batangas clan killed

BATANGAS CITY — Six men of the influential Dimacuha clan here were killed Friday night, one of them in an ambush and the rest abducted and summarily executed.

The killings were preceded by police raids the previous day on four houses, three of them belonging to members of the Dimacuha family, and a construction yard which yielded a cache of high-powered firearms and ammunition.

Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, Batangas police director, identified the six victims as Michael Maranan, 34; Guillermo Esconde, 37, and his workers Anthony Isar, Freddie Dimayuga, Edgardo Gonda and Roy Dondueñas.

Maranan, along with two companions, was waylaid while cruising Barangay Bolbok here in a Honda Accord at about 8:35 p.m. Friday.

He sustained three bullet wounds in the face. His companions, Salvador Labay, 44, and Rexon Resureccion, 28, were wounded.

At about 8:30 that night, at least 20 armed men, who reportedly introduced themselves as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), barged into the home of Esconde and took him and his four workers.

Reports had it that Esconde managed to call Maranon for help. But Maranon was himself ambushed on his way to Esconde’s house.

Esconde’s houseboy, Julius Bilena, said the armed men wore ski masks and dragged the victims to three vehicles, two of them without license plates.

Bilena said the armed men took at least P3 million from Esconde’s vault.

Twelve hours after they were abducted, Esconde and his four workers were found dead under a bridge at the boundary of Ibaan town and this city. They were tied up, blindfolded and their mouths taped shut.

Last Thursday, joint police teams armed with search warrants swooped down on the houses of Tomas Dimacuha Sr. in Barangay Kumintang Ibaba, his son Tomas Jr. in Barangay Bolbok, Ruben Dimacuha, brother of incumbent Batangas City Mayor Eduardo Dimacuha, and a certain Geronimo Esconde in Batangas Cuta.

Police also raided the Dimacuhas’ construction yard.

Seized during the raids were three shotguns, a 9-mm pistol, a caliber .38 revolver, two caliber .45 pistols, a Baby Armalite and hundreds of assorted ammunition.

The raiding team arrested Cuba and Wilson Macan, drivers of the RB Dimacuha Construction Co. The Dimacuhas eluded arrest.

The search warrants were reportedly meant to flush out suspects in the ambush-slaying of Naujan, Mindoro Oriental Vice Mayor Jovy Magsino and human rights activist Leima Fortu last Feb. 13.

In a press briefing, lawyer Jose Amorado, the Dimacuhas’ legal counsel, said the search warrants were meant for one Reynante Antenor, who is linked to the killings of Magsino and Fortu.

"If the police were looking for Antenor, why (look for him) at the houses of the Dimacuhas who have never been connected to him?" he said.

Police suspected that Antenor, being a distant relative of the Dimacuhas, was being coddled by the family. — With Rene Alviar