Five motorcycle-riding gunmen were killed by policemen in separate shootouts in Quezon City and Cavite province on Wednesday.
Investigators have yet to identify the suspects. Two of them were killed in Quezon City while the others died during what police said was a shootout in General Trias town in Cavite.
Members of the District Police Intelligence Operation Unit in Quezon City were conducting a patrol when they spotted two men on board an unmarked motorcycle near a Metrobank branch along Timog Avenue past midnight.
Police said the suspects opened fire as they approached. Police gave chase and caught up with the suspects at the corner of Scout Fuentebella and Scout Torillo in the Kamuning area.
Superintendent Rogelio Cabrera, police Station 10 commander, said the two suspects were killed on the spot. Seized from the suspects were two .38 revolvers.
Cabrera said the Quezon City Police District has intensified its police visibility operations in Kamuning and Timog Avenue area because of the rising number of robbery cases in the area.
He said a total of 18 hold-up cases have been recorded since April. Seven of these took place at the Kamuning-Timog area.
Meanwhile, the Special Operations Group of the Cavite Polic Provincial Office killed three robbery suspects in Barangay Pasong Camachile Dos, General Trias town shortly before 6 a.m.
Reports said four men on board two unmarked motorcycles tried to evade a checkpoint in Barangay Pasong Camachile Dos.
Policemen chased the motorcycle riders who turned out to be armed robbers. Three of the suspects were slain in a brief encounter, while the fourth escaped.