FORT RAMON MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City – Three soldiers are in trouble after they allegedly mauled a 37-year-old carpenter after a heated argument in a restaurant in Baler town before dawn Friday.
Privates First Class Jesse Roque,28, of Tarlac, City; Jaypee Gutierrez,27, of Camp Tinio, Cabanatuan City and Efren Montefalco Jr.,30, of New Abra, Matala,, North Cotabato were charged with serious physical injuries by the Philippine National Police (PNP) before the provincial prosecutor’s office on Monday.
Based on information filed by Baler police, under Chief Insp. Reynante Pitpitan, the suspects were detailed at the Military Intelligence Branch (MIB) of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division (7ID).
The victim was identified as Antonio Macarayo, a resident of Barangay Suklayin, briefly after a confrontation inside a resto bar at Sitio Labasin, Barangay Sabang Baler at around 3 a.m. Friday. Prosecutor Julieta Isidro- Reyes will handle the case.
Records showed Macarayo went to the bar with four companions, Rienheart Jeff Virey, 21; Marvin Virey, 23; Arvin Santiago, 22 and Sherwin Pangalinan, 22. Shortly, his group engaged in a verbal tussle with the soldiers over an unspecified reason.
The bar security reportedly pacified them but Montefalco who was reportedly armed with a .45, and his group apparently waited for Macarayo’s outside and assaulted them. Macarayo and his companions scampered for safety but he fell on the ground where the suspects reportedly mauled him.
Chona Macarayo, the victim’s wife, said her husband was almost dead when left by the suspects. The soldiers were caught by responding policemen as Macarayo was rushed to the Aurora Memorial Hospital where had to be brought to the intensive care unit. He sustained bruises and contusions and turned unconscious, police reported.
“Tuluyan mo na pare,” a witness supposedly heard one of the suspects saying to one of the soldiers.
