Some police teams and a group of armed men were involved in a standoff in the residence of Pilar, Abra Vice Mayor Jaja Josefina Disono on Tuesday night, the Philippine National Police said.
This was after a security guard of Disono was killed earlier in theday in a shooting incident, which the vice mayor claimed was an ambush but the police described as an armed encounter.
In a statement, the PNP Public Information Office said the armed men sought refuge at Disono’s house after injuring two policemen and shooting a police patrol car that was chasing after them.
The men were chased by the police after they deliberately ran through a police checkpoint in Barangay Poblacion in the morning, the PNP said.
An occupant of the fleeing vehicle also fired at and hit the front windshield of a police car giving chase.
Disono told GMA News Online she was on her way home from the municipal hall when the shooting happened.
“I was just talking to someone. Then an employee told me that the father of the opponent of my sibling, who is the incumbent mayor, went to the police. Then, later on, there was a checkpoint,” she said.
The vice mayor said she stopped at the checkpoint and then moved later on. She added the police asked her personnel on board another vehicle to alight.
“Perhaps, they got scared, so they followed us. The police fired at them. One person on our side was killed,” Disono said.
Col. Maly Cula, Abra provincial police chief, said in a phone interview that they received an intelligence report of some armed persons, thus the authorities set up a checkpoint.
Thirty minutes after the checkpoint went up, Cula said a white van passed by. Police hailed it but the van didn’t stop and ran through two of the policemen while shooting at them, the police chief added.
“I can say there’s no harassment (on Vice Mayor Disono). We’re just pursuing lawless elements who try to evade our checkpoints. No harassment is happening,” he added.
The PNP-PIO said teams from the Pilar Municipal Police Station and the Cordillera Regional Mobile Force Battalion were at Disono’s residence to negotiate the peaceful surrender of the driver of the vehicle.
PRO-Cordillera (PROCOR) Director Police Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee was also expected to arrive to personally assess the situation, the PNP said.
Abra Gov. Jocelyn Bernos attempted to negotiate with Disono’s group when she visited the compound in the afternoon but failed.
An initial report from the PROCOR showed the incident happened in Barangay Poblacion at 10:30 a.m. when a Toyota Hiace ignored the checkpoint after being flagged down by the police.
Police said two personnel of its Regional Mobile Force Battalion 15, who served as rear security, were allegedly bumped by the vehicle.
PROCOR chief Police Brigadier General Ronald Lee said the incident was not an ambush.
“VM (Disono) and her armed civilian escorts ignored the PNP checkpoint and hit our two cops, and the vice mayor’s armed goons fired their guns that’s why they were chased,” he said.
Lee said the police cordoned the house of Disono because the armed individuals went there.