Another Manila cop slain

MANILA, Philippines — An active police officer at the Manila Police District (MPD) was shot dead in his parked vehicle by a lone masked assailant at a parking lot in Malabon Sunday, just hours after a retired police superintendent was also ambushed in Manila.

Senior Police Officer 2 Rodolfo Cruz Jr., 51, and last assigned to the MPD special operations unit, was shot in his Toyota Fortuner just as he was about to leave a cockpit arena parking lot in Barangay Dampalit at around 3:30 p.m.

Cruz was a longtime Malabon policeman who also served at the Northern Police District intelligence division, according to Malabon police chief Senior Superintendent Harry Espela.

Investigator PO2 Rockymar Binayug said the motive remains unknown, especially because the slain police officer had no link to the illegal drug trade.

Cruz was at the arena at the time because his brother is a caretaker of the cockpit, Espela said.

A closed-circuit television video showed that the gunman, wearing a black bull cap and a face mask, shot at the driver’s side of the vehicle before speeding away on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.

Retired SPO1 Elmer Barola, who was in the vehicle with Cruz, was unhurt.

Police recovered four deformed red bullets and seven red cartridge cases at the crime scene.

A few hours before Cruz was killed, retired police superintendent Roberto Palisoc, 59, was shot dead in a pedicab by motorcycle-riding assailants in Ermita around 9:15 a.m.

Palisoc, previously assigned at the MPD Station 7 anti-illegal drugs unit, was a high-value target in President Duterte’s drug watch list.