Makati PNP chief says supporters of slain volunteer firefighter ‘seditious’

Makati PNP chief says supporters of slain volunteer firefighter ‘seditious’

Supporters of Infante being claimed as "seditious."

           

Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM) president Berteni “Toto” Cataluña Causing and ALAM chairman Jerry Sia Yap were told point-blank by Makati PNP officer-in-charge, Supt. Jaime Osit Santos, that about 300 supporters of the volunteer firefighter Ronald R. Infante slain by the city’s cops committed seditious acts against the class of policemen belonging to the Makati PNP.

ALAM vowed to get to the bottom of this issue to know the truth.  The police insisted they have evidence to show that Infante and his aide were indeed trying to rob the LBC delivery van to justify the killings.

Infante and one Jimmy Almanon were riddled by bullets to death by Makati policemen responding to a call for assistance sounded out by a driver of an LBC delivery van who claimed he first rammed the motorcycle Infante and Almanon were riding .

Supporters of Infante insisted that Infante, whom they fondly called “Severino Bravo,”   were killed right away by the responding policemen without first giving out a warning for surrender.

To them, the Makati responding policemen murdered Infante and Almanon.

According to Supt. Santos, these supporters raided the Police Community Precinct No. 3 of Makati on Evangelista St., Bangkal, Makati, about 10:30 a.m. of April 4, Maundy Thursday, bringing with them 50 fire trucks, 50 motorcycles and 20 private vehicles.

Supporters of Infante spray their water cannons.

                  Santos said these supporters parked their fire trucks and other vehicles in the stretch of Evangelista St., including the stretch in front of PCP No. 3.

                Supt. Santos cited for his support the Spot Report dated April 5, 2012 submitted to him by Chief Insp. Jonathan Villamor, the chief of the same PCP.

In the same report, it is stated as follows:

“...sympathizers…used sirens to create loud noise while the said persons were shouted repeatedly in a loud voice the words to wit: ‘Justice for Ronald Infante, Makati Police Mamamatay Tao.’”

The same report said that the supporters and their vehicles left when they monitored that the Makati Central Police Station personnel were on the way to quell the “seditious” act.

However, the same report said that after that the protesters returned at 11:48 a.m.  They repeated what they did at first.  This time, however, the report said that about 20 of the supporters tried to open the front main door of the precinct while two of the supporters were armed with firearms tucked on their waists.

These persons, the report added, put banners on the tree in front of the precinct, which banner pronounced: “JUSTICE FOR RONALD INFANTE.”

This is one of the posters crying for justice.

Santos further said that the supporters went further by spraying the precinct with water using their water cannons from their trucks and deflated three (3) tires of the said mobile car.

Supt. Santos sought ALAM president Causing and ALAM chairman Yap to be interviewed to give his side of the story.

To him, he viewed the actions of the supporters of Infante as a criminal act of sedition.

But Santos was so cautious that he said they gave maximum tolerance to the actions of the sympathizers of Infante that he ordered his men at the PCP No. 3 not to draw their guns except when the precinct is breached and the supporters would overrun them.

                Earlier, grieving firemen told ALAM that fire trucks have been banned from Makati City a brigade of volunteers paraded their trucks in the financial district and unloaded their water cannons into the air in an expression of extreme disgust to the city police for unreasonably shooting to death a fire-fighting volunteer and the latter’s mechanic last April Fool’s Day.

                The said complaint was posted at the blog post of ALAM president Causing, which post can be accessed at, http://totocausing.blogspot.com/2012/04/murdered-by-makati-cops.html, entitled “Murdered by Makati cops.”

“As of now unconfirmed reports were being distributed to volunteers that all firetrucks from volunteer brigades are banned from Makati for doing the motorcade and orders are from Binay.  I don't know which Binay is it.  But that's against the law and the law applies to all otherwise none at all.... We should make them pay for what they did and not the other way around just like what the president promised a "Matuwid Na Daan.... "

                ALAM president wrote a follow-up story entitled: “Why ban volunteer fire trucks from Makati, Mayor Junjun?”  This was posted on his blogsite and may be read at this link: http://totocausing.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-ban-volunteer-firetrucks-from.html.

                Initial reports had it that while negotiating a curve, the motorcycle Infante and Alamanon were riding was rammed by an LBC delivery van.

The delivery van did not stop. Instead it escaped. This triggered Infante and Almanon to chase it.

                In an interview later with the van driver, he claimed to television interviewers that he intentionally rammed the motorcycle because he was thinking he would be hijacked. He recalled he had an experience before that he was hijacked.  He did not mention, however, how he was hijacked in that earlier incident.

The van driver told television newsmen that while he was running away he immediately sought help at a gas station, whose employees in turn called for police assistance and these Makati policemen responded quickly.

                After hearing the story of the van driver that he was being hijacked, the cops immediately engaged Infante and Almanon, killing them instantly.

                The cops claimed to television newsmen that it was a shootout. 

A .40 Glock pistol was recovered from Infante.  A 9-mm gun was recovered from the mechanic. Firefighters claimed that the said guns were licensed to the two and that there were permits to carry that were issued for them.

                Witnesses said they heard rapid fire from the policemen and it was trained on Infante and Almanon. It was succeeded by single shots from the cops’ pistols.