BY MINKA S. TIANGCO * JEFFREY DAMICOG
Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra has expressed sadness over the death of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) counter-terrorism chief whose body was found with a gunshot wound inside his office Tuesday night.
“The DoJ and the NBI have suffered another major loss,” Guevarra said Wednesday over the death of NBI Counter-Terrorism Division (CTD) chief Raoul Manguerra,” Guevarra said.
The Manila Police District (MPD) reported that Manguerra, 49, a resident of Pasig City, was found dead with a lone gunshot wound in the abdomen in his office at the NBI Headquarters in Ermita, Manila.
He was rushed by his driver and an NBI employee to the Manila Doctors Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:02 a.m., Wednesday.
Manguerra’s live-in partner, Atty. Maria Rosario Bernardo, told police that he was suffering from stage 3 colon cancer.
“Chief Manguerra was the head of the anti-terrorist division of the NBI that was responsible for the arrest of scores of Abu Sayyaf fighters throughout the country, including in Metro Manila,” Guevarra told reporters.
“The NBI is in a deep state of mourning,” Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin, the bureau’s spokesperson, said.
“We condole with the family, relatives and friends of Chief Manguerra,” he added.
Lavin said NBI officer-in-charge Director Eric Distor has ordered “a thorough investigation into the incident including a lockdown on the NBI premises immediately after the incident.”
