2 cops, BuCor employee dead in Palawan shootout

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two policemen and an employee of the Bureau of Corrections died instantly in a shootout in Barangay Irawan in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan late Friday, April 3, reportedly triggered by an altercation over a mauling incident in the area.

Local executives and investigators from the Puerto Princesa City Police Office separately said on Saturday that the three fatalities Staff Sgt. Ryan Cris Cabaña and his companion, Staff Sgt. Jayson Fernandez and Jerson Ojario Talon, an employee of the Bureau of Corrections, all died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the brief gunfight.

Col. Cristine Tabdi, Palawan City police director, had ordered an extensive investigation into the incident to determine the deeper intricacies of the atrocity that left Cabaña, Fernandez and Talon dead and went viral on Facebook.

Local officials and community leaders in Barangay Irawan had told reporters that men drinking liquor together at the wake of a dead neighbor first mauled two individuals who, subsequently, sought help from policemen.

The policemen who arrived at the scene immediately started questioning people around about the trouble, reportedly causing tension in the area.

Witnesses had told local officials and police investigators who responded to the incident that Cabaña and Fernandez and Talon were heard arguing with each other loudly before gunshots reverberated through the scene, sending villagers at their dead neighbor’s wake running for their lives.