Gunmen kill senior health official in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 25, 2009) – A senior Filipino health official was gunned down and his daughter injured in an attack in Davao City in the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday.

Police said Dr. Rogelio Penera and his 15-year old daughter were in a car and on their way home from work when two motorcycle gunmen chased them and shot the victims near their house at around 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Police said Penera, the head of the Department of Health’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit in southern Mindanao, rammed his car on a wall while trying to elude the gunmen.

“Doctor Penera and his daughter were chased by the gunmen who caught up with them after his car rammed a wall near their house in Countryville Executive Homes. We still don’t know the motives of the attack,” Senior Superintendent Ramon Apolinario, chief of the Davao City police, said in an interview Thursday with radio network dzRH.

“Doctor Penera’s daughter was slightly wounded,” he said, adding the gunmen escaped after the shooting.

The attack occurred near a police precinct, but cops were not able to immediately respond to the shootings. Apolinario said he would investigate the policemen assigned at the precinct.

Davao is one of the most dangerous places in Mindanao with hundreds of unresolved summary executions and extrajudicial killings in recent years. But authorities blamed gang war as behind the murders mostly of ex-convicts and petty criminals. (Mindanao Examiner)

Davao Cop Relieved Over Death Of Detained Village Watchman

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 22, 2008) – Philippine police relieved a cop from his post after a village watchman who was arrested for public scandal was brutally mauled inside a jail and died later at a hospital in Davao City in Mindanao.

Chief Inspector Michael Dubria, commander of the Talomo police station, said he already relieved Police Officer 2 Ryan Tejano from his post and that authorities are investigating the death of Ludovico Marcelo on September 11.

Senior Superintendent Ramon Apolinario, the city police chief, earlier ordered a thorough investigation into the incident. Marcelo, of Matina village, was drunk when he was arrested and jailed September 6.

Marcelo’s body was full of bruises and badly beaten when rushed to the hospital by his wife when she visited the jail. She said Marcelo died from hemorrhage and internal injuries because of the beatings he received from inmates. Marcelo’s wife Rustica appealed to justice officials and human rights groups to investigate the death of her husband and to punish those responsible for it.

Marcelo’s family blamed policemen assigned to guard the jail for failing to prevent prisoners from mauling him. The motive of the mauling was unknown or whether the jail guards ordered Marcelo beaten up or not. (Romy Bwaga)

Arrested Mindanao Village Watchman Beaten Up In Jail, Dies Later

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 13, 2008) – A village watchman who was arrested by the police for public scandal was brutally mauled inside a jail and died later at a hospital in Davao City in the southern Philippines.

Ludovico Marcelo, who was arrested September 6 I Talomo district, died four days later and his wife, Rustica, appealed to justice officials and human rights groups to investigate the death.

Senior Superintendent Ramon Apolinario, the city police chief, has ordered an investigation into the incident. Marcelo, of Matina village, was drunk when he was arrested and jailed.

Marcelo’s body was full of bruises and badly beaten when rushed to the hospital by his wife when she visited the jail. She said Marcelo died from hemorrhage and internal injuries because of the beatings he received from inmates.

But Marcelo’s family blamed policemen assigned to guard the jail for failing to prevent prisoners from mauling him. The motive of the mauling was unknown or whether the jail guards ordered Marcelo beaten up or not. (Romy Bwaga)