Gunmen Know Ex- Gen Route Before They Killed Him

He Met Somebody at a Restaurant Before His Assassination

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO, Pangasinan – The gunmen who killed a retired police general here have been waiting for their prey before he arrived at a restaurant.

The security camera of Panaderia Antonio has footage where one of the two motorcycles utilized by the four killers even stopped at the parking space in front of the façade of the building, according to Police Provincial Office Director Col. Redrico Maranan  in a press conference he called at dusk of January 10, 2020.

Chan was assassinated at almost three o ’clock in the afternoon of that day where he was fatally hit on the major veins of his chest and neck while inside his orange Ford Ranger Pick-Up.

“Minutes before the arrival of our victim (Chan) andoon na ang mga gunmen. Meron ng prior information sila na darating diyan,” Maranan said by even explaining that the motorcycles have been reconnoitering the restaurant from the highway.
Media report said that  prior to the arrival of the victim, two of the motorcycle riding killers took their meals at the nearby makeshift eatery of Panaderia Antonio while the other stood at the waiting shed and another hit man  made countless incessant pass-by with his motorcycle at the restaurant 

CORPUS DELICTI (BODY OF THE CRIME). The Ford Ranger Pick-Up of retired police Brig. General Marlou Chan who was assassinated by two motorcycles riding in tandem criminals last Thursday (clockwise left photo. Photo Credit: Top Car Manila); Chan when he was Police Provincial Office (PPO) Director  of Pangasinan in 2013; PPO Director Colonel Redrico Maranan (3rd from left) and brass during a press conference he called dusk of January 9. Photo Credit: Internet Grab. 

Two of the motorcycle riding killers clad in a neon green jacket and garbed in a black jacket, the provincial director cited.

He said the gunmen rode on a Yamaha NMax motorbike.

“Nililingon na nila ang paligid. Based on our assessment hinihintay na nila diyan ang kanilang target”.

When the Pick-Up of Chan, driven by Juanito Lozada, Jr. arrived, the hitmen immediately revved up their bike and scurried away from the place.

Maranan said Chan and Lozada came from the eastern part where the nearby Villa Isabel Restaurant was located.

The restaurant is famous for its sumptuous goat meat delicacies and bulalo (beef shanks and marrowbones’ stew).

After 20 minutes meeting with a still unidentified person inside the Panederia Antonio, Chan and his driver traversed the highway in Barangay Nalsian here to the direction of Urdaneta City when the two motorcycles suddenly appeared near the right front seat of the Ford.

 Two of the back riders peppered him with bullets of their .45 calibers that hit him on the chest and neck.

“Ayon na ang sasakyan nila. Sumusunod na ang dalawang motor tapos nag U-Turn iyong drivers,” the provincial director verbally annotated the footages at the crime scene for the reporters.

Maranan said it took only five seconds for the killers to consummate their dastardly act.

Photo of the vehicle of the retired general, sources said was borrowed, saw five holes at the front right window and three holes at the right back seat’s window.

There were five empty shells of a .45 caliber bullets however found by Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) near the façade of Regency Hotel here.

The assailants sped off to the direction of Barangay Banaoang whose entrance is near Panaderia Antonio.

Maranan said the driver of Chan slowed down behind the white Toyota Fortuner while bullets peppered it.

“Siguro ng may putok napatapak siya (on the break). Nag counter flow siya (car) nag evasive maneuver siya”.
His driver, who was unhurt, drove him to the Villaflor Hospital in Dagupan City.

The retired general however expired there with bullet wounds on the neck and chest.
"The doctors there try to revive him but he was already D.O.A (Dead on Arrival). He was hit on the vascular or major blood vessels," a surgeon, who asked for anonymity, told this writer.

Maranan said that the person Chan met at the Panaderia Antonio is the subject of the police investigation.

“We would have press release tomorrow as based on the evidences we gather within today”.

Chan was former Police PPO Director of Pangasinan in 2012 –2013.

As Police Provincial Office Director and Deputy Regional Director for Administration (DPDA) of the Police Regional Office -1   based in San Fernando City, La Union during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, Chan was a powerful but controversial figure.

The native of San Quintin, Pangasinan had the ears of a provincial politician and Department of Interior & Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas who to appoint and not to appoint for the posts of the PPO Director and the PRO-1 Director in Region 1 during the Aquino Administration in 2010 to 2016.
He had been rumored to run for the mayoralty of San Quintin in the 2022 Election.
During the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, Chan was reassigned from PRO-1 to Directorate for Integrated Police Operations (DIPO) in Mindanao and later Northern Luzon.
DIPO is not a glamorous post because it is considered as a floating position to generals who are not under the graces of the power-that-be.

Police investigators are looking for Chan's personal life, his business dealings, and those related in his police career as motive for the broad daylight murder.
He retired from the Philippine National Police upon reaching the mandatory age of 56 in April 2019.

Chan is a graduate of Class 1985 of the Philippine Military Academy.

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