Batangas ambush leaves 3 dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – A police officer, a former lawman and an alleged gunman were killed in an ambush in Batangas City on Friday.         

Senior Police Officer 4 Fidel Macatangay of  the Batangas police and former Police Officer 3 Melvin Talabis were on their way home in an Isuzu Crosswind vehicle when two armed men waylaid them in Barangay Sta. Rita at about 5:30 p.m.

Although wounded, Macatangay was able to fire back,  hitting one of the alleged gunmen identified as Avelino Ulbata, according to Senior Superintendent Jireh Fidel, Batangas police director.

Ulbata was found 30 meters away from the ambush site, while the other gunman managed to escape.

Bystanders rushed Macatangay and Talabis to a hospital but they did not make it alive due to several gunshot wounds in their bodies.

Fidel said investigators are eyeing vengeance as the motive for the killing, noting that Talabis was the only witness in the slaying of a junior police officer in Batangas  late last year.

Pursuing policemen arrested two men identified as Richard Vina and Dundee Babasa for gun possession.

Authorities have yet to determine their involvement in the killing.