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Thursday, July 10, 2003
Lapu steps up patrols over rise in shootings
By Oscar C. Pineda
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER the shooting of a Korean national and a suspected drug pusher in June, five more shooting incidents have been recorded in Lapu- Lapu City since July 3.
This prompted the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office to increase patrols and checkpoints.
The latest victims, a suspected drug pusher and a cockpit referee, were shot on the same day, July 7.
Some observers conclude the killings could be a war between drug lords and a vigilante group.
City Police Chief Paquito Belandres immediately stepped up visibility patrols and mobile checkpoints in strategic areas in the city.
No stabbing or shooting incident was reported since then.
At 5 a.m. last July 7, cockpit referee Jonathan Historian, 27, was shot by a friend with whom he was having an argument with near the city auditorium in Barangay Poblacion.
Historian made it to the Mactan Community Hospital by himself despite the wound in his back.
Police failed to establish the motive of the shooting.
Witnesses said that prior to the shooting, the victim and the suspect were seen drinking at a nearby store until they were heard quarreling.
Historian is from Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City.
At 11 p.m. that same day, unidentified men shot dead Eric Dimala, 27, who was standing along the road in Sitio Humay-Humay, also in Gun-ob. He was a suspected drug pusher.
In Sitio Soong I, Barangay Mactan last July 4, unidentified men also shot dead construction worker Juanito Mateo, 35. The victim was drunk and was carrying a bolo when the incident happened at 11 p.m.
Thirty minutes later, Dondon Ybañez, of Humay-Humay, shot Raymond Cuizon, 17. Cuizon was headed for home in Barangay Pajo when shot in the back.
The two were earlier seen drinking together. Ybañez remains at large.
A day earlier, in Barangay Ibo, newsboy Cipriano Lufranco shot and injured jeepney driver Rodrigo Rayno. Lufranco had suspected Rayno to have hidden his wife. Lufranco remains at large while Rayno is still in the hospital.
Last June 30, a City Hall worker and suspected drug pusher was shot by an unidentified attacker in Humay-Humay. Like in the earlier case, the culprit remains at large and the victim still recuperating.
Belandres assured the public his men are working overtime to solve the cases.
Of the five suspects involved in the shooting of Korean national Jong Lim last June 28, one has been arrested. Another has been identified. Police has yet to file a case against them.
After a meeting with Provincial Police Director Maximo Calimlim last Monday, Belandres said he will increase police visibility in crime-prone barangays.
Checkpoints will continue with more men this time, he said.
(July 10, 2003 issue)
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