ZAMBOANGA CITY – A crime group member was killed while a policeman was wounded as firefight ensued during a law enforcement operation in Zamboanga Sibugay province, a top police official announced Saturday.
Police Brig. Gen. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said that the clash took place around 1 p.m. Saturday in Purok 5, Barangay Bawang, Buug, Zamboanga Sibugay based on the report of Police Col. Albert Larubis, the police director in the province.
Ylagan said that the slain crime group member was identified as Jay-ar Nalica Rufin while the wounded policeman is Police Patrolman Jose Edilberto Rellente of the 1st Provincial Mobile Fore Company.
Rufin, 32, a resident of Barangay Palalian, Malangas, Zamboanga Sibugay, is a member of a local crime group headed by a Commander Manny Nain, according to Ylagan.
He said the clash ensued as Nain and his followers opened fire while the policemen were responding to a report that there is an ongoing illegal cockfighting in Purok 5, Barangay Bawang.
He said the policemen retaliated that resulted to the death of Rufin, whose remains were abandoned by Nain and his other five followers who are involved in gun-for-hire and other crimes in Buug and other areas in the province.
He added that recovered from the clash site were a a chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol with inserted magazine loaded with four rounds ammunition and one magazine loaded with seven bullets. – Nikolai Gonzalo
