A 36-year-old traffic enforcer died when he was shot by an unknown assailant in Muntinlupa City Tuesday night.
The victim, Daniel Manalo, supervisor of the motorcycle unit of the Muntinlupa Traffic Management Bureau, died on the spot.
According to a report by the Southern Police District, Manalo and a fellow traffic enforcer were conducting an anti-tricycle operation in the southbound lane of the national road in Barangay Tunasan when the shooting occurred.
A fellow enforcer told the police that they entered a store around 7 pm, but later Manalo came out to answer the cell phone call.
The enforcer said the gunman approached Manalo while he was talking on the phone and shot him in the head from behind. The culprit ran away.
According to police, a .45 caliber bullet casing was recovered at the crime scene.
Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime Fresnedi condemned the shooting of Manalo, who has been a city employee since 2014.
In a statement, the mayor said the incident was an insult to government employees and promised to provide financial assistance to Manalo’s family.
Traffic enforcer shot dead in Muntinlupa
According to the local government, Manalo is part of the road clearing team that conducted an operation against those who obstructed the road in compliance with the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
He has also been honored several times for his work and is known as a kind and friendly co-worker.
The city announced on Wednesday a P200,000 reward for anyone who could give information on who shot the traffic enforcer.
Muntinlupa City police are continuing their investigation into the incident and have deployed a tracker team to track down the culprit.
For information on the identity or location of the culprit, you can call the PNP Muntinlupa hotline at 0998-967-4531.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Debold Sinas said a total of 19,086 crimes involving riding-in-tandem have been recorded since 2016 that have not been resolved.
According to Sinas, of the said number, they solved 9,040 or only 48.87 percent and the rest remained under investigation.
According to the record from January 1 to February this year, up to 50 individuals were killed by riding-in-tandem.