Retired cop gunned down in Marikina

MANILA, Philippines — A retired policeman was shot dead by two men in front of a large crowd at a basketball court in Marikina City Sunday.

Retired Inspector Elmer Corbe, 52, died while being rushed to the Marikina Doctors Hospital.

Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Bernabe Balba ordered a deeper probe of the murder.

In his report to Balba, city police chief Senior Superintendent Roger Quesada said Corbe was refereeing a basketball game at Barangay Industrial Complex when two assailants arrived on a motorcycle at around 6:30 p.m.

The assailants drew handguns, approached Corbe and shot him at close range. They then walked back to their motorcycle and sped off, Quesada said.

Balba said Corbe was assigned to the Marikina police’s Special Weapons and Tactics unit prior to his transfer to the Quezon City Police District anti-illegal drugs unit.

Corbe was among the more than 300 police officers with derogatory records transferred to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao at the height of President Duterte’s purge of rogue police officers.

Corbe, who was assigned in Basilan, retired on July 1, 2017.

Neighbors of Corbe, a resident of the same barangay, described him as a “Robin Hood” because he helped the sick, poor and needy among them.