4 Batangas Bantay Dagat men face raps for killing Quezon fisher
LUCENA CITY – Police have filed murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder charges against four members of San Juan, Batangas Bantay Dagat, for shooting six fishermen of Sariaya, Quezon, resulting in the death of one and injury of another.
Quezon Police Director Col. Ledon Monte said the suspects were all members of San Juan, Batangas Municipal Government Bantay Dagat, who are all at large.
Monte said the incident transpired at around 9:00 p.m. last January 18 while Sariaya fishermen Alvin Protacio, 32; Teody Libres, 26; Charlon Ramirez, 25; Jay Protacio, 22; Jan Jan Ramirez, 13; and one Gerald Sison, all residents of Sitio Aplaya Brgy Bignay 1, Sariaya, Quezon were fishing along the boundaries of the two adjacent municipalities.
The suspects reportedly approached the fishers and tried to arrest them over an alleged fishing violation.
While the suspects were in the act of seizing the fishing vessel, the fishers sped off as they tried to evade arrest prompting the former to chase them while firing guns upon them.
This prompted fishermen, except for Alvin Protacio, to jump off the seawater and swim toward the shore.
The boat was later recovered along the seawaters of San Juan with the lifeless body of Alvin Protacio, who was found to have suffered a headshot.
Libres was rushed to Lucena United Doctors Hospital in Lucena City for medical treatment after sustaining a bullet wound.
He told responding probers at the hospital that they were fired upon by the suspects.
To verify the exact location of the incident, an ocular investigation by both personnel of Sariaya and San Juan Municipal Stations was conducted together with Bantay Dagat of Sariaya using Global Positioning System (GPS).
It turned out that the shooting incident took place at the exact boundaries of Sariaya, Quezon, and San Juan, Batangas.
