Two Capiz police officers relieved over fatal shooting

By Jennifer P. Rendon

ROXAS CITY, Capiz — The Capiz Police Provincial Office confirmed that it had administratively relieved two officers from their posts following the July 20 shooting that killed another police officer in Pontevedra, Capiz.

Effective July 27, the CPPO temporarily relieved Capt. Mark Ryan Garcia of the Pontevedra Municipal Police Station and Lt. Col. Yaen Lidawan of the 1st Capiz Provincial Mobile Force Company from their posts.

Col. David Cachumbo, officer-in-charge of the Capiz Police Provincial Office, said Capt. Maria Fe Umiten was designated officer-in-charge of the Pontevedra police station.

Maj. Alfred de Leon, deputy chief of the 1st Capiz Provincial Mobile Force Company, will temporarily replace Lidawan.

Cachumbo said Garcia and Lidawan could return to their previous posts or be permanently reassigned, depending on the results of the investigation and the recommendation of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division.

The two officers were relieved after the shooting inside a KTV bar that killed Capt. Rian Ampoyos of the 3rd Platoon of the 1st Capiz Provincial Mobile Force Company.

“It was a matter of command responsibility,” Cachumbo said.

Garcia was found to have failed to implement Oplan Bakal and other security measures within his area of responsibility.

Ampoyos was shot while allegedly trying to pacify a brawl at a KTV bar in Barangay Binuntucan, Pontevedra, shortly after midnight on July 20.

He died from a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.

Ampoyos and two other officers — a police corporal and a staff sergeant — had not been deployed to respond to the commotion.

Instead, they were already at the KTV bar when a fight broke out among the establishment’s customers.

The bar owner had allegedly invited the police corporal to an earlier dinner.

The corporal arrived at about 4:30 p.m. on July 19 with his two senior officers.

Their dinner lasted several hours as they reportedly discussed peace and order concerns with the bar owner, who had allegedly sought help over the presence of armed men in the area.

Closed-circuit television footage showed that a commotion later erupted involving other customers and an employee of the establishment.

The officers were asked to intervene.

As the police officers admonished those involved, one of the suspects allegedly pulled out a gun and fired, hitting Ampoyos.

A 38-year-old man identified only as William, a resident of Barangay Jolongajog in Pontevedra, was arrested immediately after the incident.

Police seized a .45-caliber pistol, a magazine loaded with one round of ammunition, and an extra magazine containing five rounds from him.

When William was frisked at the police station, officers recovered another magazine containing six rounds of ammunition.