Talisay City Police and members of the city’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) checks a private lot in Barangay Lawis, Talisay City where unidentified men open fired (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A land dispute between neighbors resulted to a tension in Sitio Dawis, Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City early morning Saturday.
Talisay City police were alarmed over presence of armed men in a vacant lot in Sitio Dawis at 10 a.m.
Lucenda Yongco, 68, a resident of Sitio Dawis, called for police assistance after at least 30 armed men open fired within the 3,276 square meter lot, which she owns but is being claimed by Dionisya Bacalso, 60, who is a neighbor.
Talisay City police and members of the city’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) then went to the area in full battle gear.
SPO2 Jeffy Diola said they saw one man armed with a pistol but was able to escape.
Others were no longer in the area when they arrived.
Rhona Nacua, a resident in the area, said the armed men has been visiting the place since last year.
She said they now fear for their security because every night the men would stay in the area and fire their guns.
According to Yongco, it was Bacalso who brought the armed men to the property and harassed the security guards, who she hired to watch over the fenced property.
She said Bacalso allegedly asked for help from a certain Rey Duterte Abad, who then gathered the armed men.
Yongco, who holds a title and a document from the Bureau of Lands proving her ownership, has already filed a trespassing case against Bacalso but the court dismissed the case in a decision release last May 3.
Bacalso presented the resolution of the court dismissing the trespassing case filed by Yongco against her as proof that she owned the property and reiterated her claim over it to the responding policemen.
With tension in the area still high, SPO2 Diola said they have placed the area under priority monitoring and has deployed four policeman.