BY FREDDIE VELEZ
CALUMPIT, Bulacan – A former Bulacan police director serving as head of the Provincial Security Unit and the Provincial Jail Management Office was shot to death by two armed men in Barangay Iba Este, this town, late Wednesday afternoon.
Police said the victim, retired Police Col. Fernando S. Villanueva, 61, was a multi-awarded official in the province of Bulacan.
Initial investigation showed that at around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Villanueva and his driver, Pedro Velasco Flores alias “Nonong”, 44, were traveling along the northbound lane of Macarthur Highway onboard a black Mitsubishi Estrada (SHX 829) when they were fired upon by gunmen before reaching Iba Este bridge.
Due to traffic congestion, Flores said they immediately got of the vehicle, but the suspects approached the victim and peppered him with bullets.
Villanueva died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body. The driver was unharmed.
Lt. Col. Ramil R. Santos, town police chief, and his men immediately proceeded to the place and alarmed the Provincial Tactical Operation Center for a dragnet operation for the fleeing suspect.
Probers recovered from the crime scene fired cartridge cases of .40-caliber gun and .38-caliber revolver.
Upon checking the CCTV footages in Barangay Iba Este, police said that one of the suspects was seen running and riding a tricycle towards Hagonoy town.
Vice Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado condemned the killing of Villanueva and told the Bulacan Police Provincial Office headed by Col. Lawrence B. Cajipe to track down the suspects.
“Hindi pangkaraniwang empleyado lamang ng Kapitolyo si Ret. Lt. Col. Villanueva, isa ito sa mga cabinet secretary ng ating gobernador,” Alvarado said.
Villanueva had survived several ambushes and encounters with communist rebels when he was the commander of the 305th Provincial Mobile Force Company from year 2002 to 2004. He was installed as Bulacan police director in 2010 up to 2011.
