Mining exec dies after 3 days in coma

A FINANCIAL controller of the Philsaga Mining Corporation died in a hospital, three days after he was shot by an unidentified man outside his house in Elenita Heights Subdivision at Catalunan Grande in Davao City.

The victim was identified as Santos A¤osa Casarao Jr., 38, a resident of Phase 2 Block 18 Lot 27 Elenita Heights Subdivision, Catalunan Grande, Davao City. He was shot at 9 p.m. of Saturday.

SPO4 Jeffrey Bangcas, case tracker of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), said the victim died at the Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH) Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. He was comatose for three days due to gunshot wounds he sustained.

Initial report from the Scene of the Crime Operative (Soco) said Casarao was hit on his scapular area, with the bullet exiting through his right shoulder and further hit the back side of his right ear.

He also had one on his right thigh that pierced through his knee, and left thigh with the bullet piercing through his right thigh, among several other wounds.

Superintendent Julius E. Silagan, chief of the Talomo police station, said they could not yet determine the total number of gunshot wounds Casarao obtained, as the cadaver is still subject for autopsy.

Based on the initial investigation conducted by PO3 Ronald Baguio and PO3 Cirilo Flores, of the Talomo Police Station, the victim was standing in front of his house when an unidentified man shot him several times.

According to some witness, after the victim fell down on the ground, a man who was wearing a dark jacket and helmet immediately boarded a Honda TMX motorcycle and fled with the gunman.

Casarao was rushed first to Davao Adventist Hospital before he was transferred to DDH.

Recovered from the crime scene were 10 shells of a caliber .9mm pistol and three metal fragments, which are now in the custody of the Philippine National Police-Davao Region Crime Laboratory for ballistic examination.

Silagan said there are no suspects yet.

"We are still on the process of tracing the background of the victim; especially his wife told us earlier that his husband has been receiving several death threats dati pa. So, karon gina-check namo iyang dati gitrabahuan, which is the Sumifru and ang kini karon Philsaga (We are checking his former employment, the Sumifru, and his present employment, Philsaga)," Silagan said.

It can be recalled that on September 2011, an officer of Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), the firm developing the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in Southern Mindanao, was shot dead in a subdivision in Davao City.

The slain victim, Cristituto Gayamot Bual, 53, offsite land acquisition superintendent of SMI and resident of 109 Isarog Road Central Park Subdivision in Bangkal, was on jogging with his wife around 5:30 a.m. when the gunmen onboard a black Honda Wave motorcycle shot him in the head.