Pangasinan shocked by shooting rampage
CARNAGE AT THE PNHS
OUTPOURING of grief and outrage was felt by unbelieving Pangasinenses at the totally unexpected violence inside the Pangasinan National High School in Lingayen that left 4 teachers dead and three other persons wounded in a shooting rampage by a policeman.
P/Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Biay, officer-in-charge at the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office, who quickly and roundly condemned the dastardly act of PO3 Dominio Alipio and his cohort Oliver Ganigan, in the strongest terms said, “The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office disowns PO3 Alipio’s evil acts and in no way deserves to wear the police badge which symbolizes Service, Honor and Justice. The moment he thought of and executed such inhumane acts, he has already stripped himself of the very virtues that make a man a police officer, servant and protector of the people”.
Killed on the spot were Florenda Flores, female, a teacher at Labrador National High School, a resident of Libsong West, Lingayen; Acidello Sison, male, PNHS teacher, a resident of Maniboc, Lingayen; and Jonalito Urayan, male, a resident of Gabon, Calasiao.
Linda Sison, female, PNHS teacher, was dead upon arrival at the Jesus of Nazarene hospital in Lingayen.
Initial police investigation showed Alipio with driver Oliver Ganigan and Urayan, his collector, arrived at the PNHS around 4p.m. to collect debts from certain teachers of the said school.
Alipio initially waited for Flores, the agent who referred the debtors to the suspect.
“When the suspect couldn’t collect from Flores and the teachers, the suspect got irked prompting him to go in a shooting spree,” said P/Superintendent Reynante Panay, chief of the Lingayen Municipal Police Station, in a press conference held Sept. 3.
After a brief chase in one of the classrooms, the suspect was arrested and brought to the community hospital then to the LPS for further investigation.
Panay said Alipio, with his driver Oliver Ganigan and debt collector Urayan arrived at the PNHS on board a Mitsubishi Estrada truck to collect payments for the loans of several teachers of in the school.
When the suspect failed to collect the payments from Flores, he got irked and started shooting her (Flores) and Urayan using caliber .45 and turned to other victims Acedillo Sison and Linda Sison.
Investigators seized a caliber .45 loaded with one magazine assembly containing six bullets, one carbine with short magazine inserted containing 12 ammunitions and long magazine attached containing 12 ammunitions for caliber 30, a hand grenade, 13 pieces fired cartridge cases for caliber .45, two pieces fired cartridge cases for caliber .30, three pieces deformed slugs and the green Mitsubishi Estrada pick up with plate number UCW 813.
P/Senior Inspector Diomedes Bonales, police chief of Anda Municipal Police Station where the suspect is assigned said Alipio was on off-duty at the time of the incident. Alipio was assigned to the town only last April as patroller and liaison officer and described him as a kind soft-spoken person.
Biay assured the families of the victims that justice will be served for the loss of their loved ones the soonest possible time.
He said he will look into an information he received that the financiers behind Alipio’s lending business are reportedly top police officials. A PO3 like Alipio receives only a basic monthly salary of P18, 665.
Biay said pending the completion the verification of the firearms used by Alipio, he will recommend to the PNP general headquarters the maximum administrative penalty for Alipio, in addition to the expected criminal cases that will be filed against him.
FREQUENT SCHOOL VISITOR
Florante Tamondong, school principal, said that Alipio was a frequent visitor at the school for his money lending business.
He deplored the situation that led to the violence because the policeman is the lender and two of the school’s teachers were his agent and collector
In an effort to make sense of the violence, Tamondong said “Maybe he was pissed off because the teachers claimed they already paid their dues but when in fact, Alipio complained there was no remittance to him at all.”
He admitted school security was apparently lax because Alipio, who was heavily armed, was able to enter the school campus. A security guard was posted at the campus’ main gate at all times.
After the shooting, SPO1 Yolly Yanes, (a male policeman) who was the first to respond, had a brief exchange of gunfire with the suspect inside the campus before the latter ran to hide inside one of the classrooms.
Tamondong, who was assigned as principal of PNHS only last January, said the problem about teachers’ loans has been in existence. He was told that Alipio’s usurious lending business charged interests on late payments from unpaid principal sum and interest.
He said there was one occasion when he approached Alipio because the latter was disturbing teachers during class hours to collect payments and advised Alipio to stop disturbing the teachers and merely sue the non-paying teachers to settle the issue.
PNHS has 205 teaching personnel plus 25 non-teaching and 4,962 students. (Tita Roces/Johanne Macob)
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