CABANATUAN CITY– An alleged leader of a private armed group (PAGs) operating in Nueva Ecija was killed by gang men who raided him in broad daylight in Barangay Palomaria, Bongabon, Nueva Ecija on Monday
Senior Supt. Ricardo Marquez, police provincial director, identified the slain PAG leader as Virgilio Alejo, 47, suspected leader of the dreaded “Kamagong Group” involved in gangland-style killings.
Marquez said Alejo was accompanied by some friends near his house when four masked heavily armed men alighted from a Toyota Corolla car with license plate PTB-736 and fired at him around 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Chief Inspector Arnel Santiago, Bongabon police chief, said that Alejo was able to run away near the Pampanga River in Barangay Vega when the gunmen chased and shot him several times with M-16 Armalite rifles. Five empty shells were recovered by the police at the crime scene.
The victim has outstanding warrants of arrest for murder and rebellion.
The “Kamagong Group” was identified in January by the Philippine National Police as one of three PAGs, reportedly operates to sow terrorism and chaos in the recent elections. Another PAG was known as “Alakdan.”
These PAGs, which are engaged in armed robbery and gun-for-hire activities, are operating in the first and second congressional districts and in the boundaries of the third and fourth congressional districts.
Marquez said that some of these PAGs lie low during normal times but surface during the election season reportedly at the request of unscrupulous politicians.
“When it is not election time, they don’t show themselves,” he said.
Marquez said they have strictly monitored the movements of these PAGs during the recent polls and found that they were no longer there during the entire campaign period.
Police have not yet established if the activities of the Kamagong Group is tied to the operations of two suspected gun-for-hire who were arrested last week in Llanera town.
Senior Supt. Ricardo Marquez, police provincial director, identified the slain PAG leader as Virgilio Alejo, 47, suspected leader of the dreaded “Kamagong Group” involved in gangland-style killings.
Marquez said Alejo was accompanied by some friends near his house when four masked heavily armed men alighted from a Toyota Corolla car with license plate PTB-736 and fired at him around 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Chief Inspector Arnel Santiago, Bongabon police chief, said that Alejo was able to run away near the Pampanga River in Barangay Vega when the gunmen chased and shot him several times with M-16 Armalite rifles. Five empty shells were recovered by the police at the crime scene.
The victim has outstanding warrants of arrest for murder and rebellion.
The “Kamagong Group” was identified in January by the Philippine National Police as one of three PAGs, reportedly operates to sow terrorism and chaos in the recent elections. Another PAG was known as “Alakdan.”
These PAGs, which are engaged in armed robbery and gun-for-hire activities, are operating in the first and second congressional districts and in the boundaries of the third and fourth congressional districts.
Marquez said that some of these PAGs lie low during normal times but surface during the election season reportedly at the request of unscrupulous politicians.
“When it is not election time, they don’t show themselves,” he said.
Marquez said they have strictly monitored the movements of these PAGs during the recent polls and found that they were no longer there during the entire campaign period.
Police have not yet established if the activities of the Kamagong Group is tied to the operations of two suspected gun-for-hire who were arrested last week in Llanera town.
