Three Bacolod City Police Office members have been disarmed and restricted to their quarters as they undergo an investigation on the shooting of a jeepney driver over a traffic altercation in the city late Thursday.

PO1 Roberto Pineda Jr., PO1 Joey Genterola, and PO2 Alexis Disomangcop, have been disarmed of their service firearms and are now restricted at the BCPO after a scuffle between them and several Uytiepo Lines drivers left one person injured around midnight Thursday, BCPO deputy director, Supt. Leo Erwin Agpangan, said.

Another officer, PO2 Mae Lumawag, was also allegedly with the three male officers, who are all under the BCPO City Mobile Group at that time but Agpangan said, her supposed participation is also the subject of the probe of the BCPO Intelligence and Investigation Branch.

Elvis Divinagracia 42, of Purok Neptune, Brgy. Singcang, Bacolod, was brought to the Riverside Medical Center when a stray bullet hit him on the chest after one of the officers fired his gun on the ground, his sister-in-law, Gina Banguanda, said.

Reports said the shooting happened after a traffic altercation between the officers and Uytiepo Lines driver John Redo Johnson.

Agpangan, who leads the CMG, confirmed reports that it was Disomangcop who had fired his service firearm and that the latter and all his companions were all off-duty at that time.

He said the officers told him Disomangcop fired his gun when the drivers of Uytiepo Lines mobbed them outside the jeepney group’s compound at Princess Urduja Street, Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod.

Agpangan, however, said, they will investigate the matter first to know what actually happened.

Rene de Dios, an Uytiepo Lines employee, on the other hand, said the attack happened when Johnson, 35, drove past the officers at B.S. Aquino Drive around midnight Thursday.

The officers, who were allegedly on board a gray Mitsubishi Lancer with Plate No. PRY-519, then chased Johnson up to the Uytiepo Lines compound, De Dios said.

Outside the compound, De Dios said the three male officers, who he said, were heavily intoxicated with liquor, surrounded Johnson, threatening and provoking him and the other drivers who saw the commotion until Rolly and Ronald, both surnamed Bayadog, confronted the policemen.

A scuffle then broke out between the Bayadogs and the officers, prompting one of them to fire his gun, De Dios said.

The jeepney group’s manager, Joemarie Uytiepo, said they will help the drivers in filing charges against the officers.

Romeo Baldevarona, Commission on Human Rights provincial officer, meanwhile, encouraged the drivers to file a formal report to them so they could investigate the incident and file charges against the officers if there is probable cause.*PP

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