HOLY WEDNESDAY RAGE: Jueteng bagman ambushed

By RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

LEGAZPI CITY --- Former Punong Barangay Alwin Nimo who exposed a local official for receiving P8.16 million protection money from financiers of jueteng, an illegal numbers game, was ambushed along with his driver and bodyguard in the evening of Holy Wednesday, March 27, along Barangay Mariawa in Daraga, Albay.

Nimo was a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairman from 1996 to 2002 and barangay chairman of Barangay Anislag in the municipality of Daraga from 2007 to 2018.

Police said that while the victims were travelling from this city on board a bullet-proof Chevrolet Suburban (plate number ZWK 111) to Barangay Anislag in Daraga, Albay “they were incessantly fired upon by four unidentified men using unknown caliber of firearms at an intersection in Barangay Mariawa’s Purok 3 in Legazpi City.

“We were heading back home to Barangay Anislag in Daraga after a dinner with some friends in Legazpi City when the incident happened,” Nimo told this reporter.

Asked if he suffered gunshot wounds in the attack, Nimo said that none of them were hurt or suffered an injury. The three men were aboard a bulletproof vehicle when the incident happened.

In previous interviews, Nimo confided to this reporter that he was receiving death threats which he believed were sent from the camp of the local official.

Pressed for the identities of the suspects and the man masterminded the ambush, Nimo said that he has one in mind: the one facing the charges he filed at the Ombudsman.

Nimo, a self-confessed jueteng bagman who became a whistleblower for his exposé in 2023, was referring to a local official in Albay whom he exposed and charged as the respondent in criminal and administrative cases he filed at the Office of the Ombudsman for receiving P8.16 million protection money.

He claimed that he served as bagman for jueteng operators, delivering P60,000 per week to the local official from August 2019 to June 2022.

Nimo, accused the official of graft and corruption, bribery and violations of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Republic Act No. 9287, an amendment act to Presidential Decree 1602 which imposes penalties for individuals taking part in illegal gambling activities.

RA 9287 increases penalties set in PD 1602 and establishes the Anti-Illegal Gambling Board. He said that he has to follow up the cases at the ombudsman for some updates or progress.

Nimo, his driver, and a bodyguard managed to speed away from the ambush site to Barangay Talahib in Daraga, Albay. The incident is currently being investigated by the Legazpi City Police Station which is now tracing the location of the armed men who staged the botched ambush.