Police official shot dead in Pampanga

By George Trillo

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — A police official assigned to a drug rehabilitation center operated by the Philippine National Police was killed and his teenage female companion wounded when gunmen riding-in-tandem on a motorcycle opened fire at their vehicle in Barangay Dapdap, Mabalacat town on March 14.

Chief Supt. Arturo G. Cacdac Jr., Police Regional Office 3 director, identified the fatality as Chief Insp. Manuel Cordoviz Chica, assigned to the Central Luzon Drug Rehabilitation Center.

He died on the spot due to severe loss of blood while his lady companion is currently recuperating from a gunshot wound at the Saint Raphael Hospital in Mabalacat, Cacdac said.
Initial investigation showed the victims were on board an all-terrain vehicle traveling along Mawaque-Madapdap Road when the killers struck in Barangay Dapdap around 10 p.m.

Based on the evidence lifted at the scene, probers said the killers used a .9mm pistol in the attack and headed to the east during their getaway.

Cacdac instructed Senior Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, acting director of the Pampanga Police Office, to create special Task Force Chica to investigate the case much deeper.

Supt. Rolly Mendoza, Mabalacat police chief, did not give the identity of Chica’s wounded companion for security reasons.

Chica was previously assigned in different police stations in Pampanga and once held the position of chief of police in Sasmuan.

He also led anti-insurgency operations against the communist Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan when he was assigned to the Provincial Mobile Group of Pampanga.

He later joined the Angeles City Police Office and was assigned as chief of the Investigation and Detective Management Bureau for a short period before being transferred to the CLDRC.