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Saturday, December 27, 2003
Housewife dies in Ronda strafing
By MIA E. ABELLANA & MINERVA B. GERODIAS
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A WOMAN was shot dead in her sleep, while two others were hurt by stray bullets in separate acts of violence in Cebu on Christmas Eve.
Juvelyn Albacite was asleep with her husband and two daughters when bullets rained at 7 p.m. on their hut in Barangay Langin, Ronda, some 81 kilometers southwest of Cebu City.
Bullets hit Albacite in the head and neck. She died on the spot. The rest of the household was spared.
As she was buried yesterday, police pursued more leads in the case.
The shooting happened a day after farmer Macario Aleosar was also shot dead in the same area. Aleosar and Albacite were neighbors.
But police investigators believe the two killings are not related and were not committed by the same person or group.
Aleosar, a member of cult Dios Amahan, had bragged to neighbors that he was invincible.
Overall, it was a peaceful Christmas celebration in Cebu City.
But at least two persons were injured by stray bullets during the revelry, while a woman was also hurt by a splinter from a shotgun fired by her neighbor.
57 injuries
Based on records of the Cebu City homicide section, there were at least three shootings, four stabbings and one suicide on Dec. 24 and 25.
From Dec. 14 until yesterday, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 57 revelry-related incidents, most of them firecracker injuries.
The figures were obtained from different hospitals within Metro Cebu.
Chevy Deparine of Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Resu) 7 said they noticed a decrease in the number of injuries, although they monitored more hospitals this time and cannot use last year’s figures for a fair comparison.
Most of the incidents happened in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, with victims ranging from two to 59 years old.
Bloody brawl
The shooting in Ronda was followed by a brawl that killed one and injured another in Yati, Liloan at dawn on Christmas Day.
Rizalde Hillo, 46, and Marvin Diaz were stabbed, allegedly by drinking buddy Robert Andam, 43, of Siquijor Province.
Hillo and Andam were drinking along with several others at 4 a.m. when Andam suddenly got into an argument with one of the group.
Diaz, who was nearby, tried to pacify them.
But Andam pulled out a bronze knife some eight inches long and stabbed Diaz in different parts of his body, police said.
Hillo came to Diaz’s rescue and scolded Andam for attacking a neighbor. At this, Andam allegedly turned his attention to Hillo and stabbed him as well.
Hillo and Diaz were rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, but Hillo was declared dead on arrival. Diaz is under observation.
Andam tried to escape, but police caught him on his way to Consolacion.
Risky strays
In Cebu City, stray bullets wounded two men just moments before Christmas Day.
Bernardo Tayong, 21, and Raymund Pañares, 16, both of Pardo were outside their homes shortly before midnight of Dec. 24 when they were suddenly hit.
Tayong was wounded in his left leg.
While the bullet is believed to be that of an Armalite rifle, Cebu City Police Chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo said this did not automatically mean a military man or policeman fired it.
Several Danao-made firearm models use Armalite bullets, Sandalo added.
Around 11:40 p.m., Tayong was outside the house of a friend who was hosting a Christmas party. He was waiting for his name to be called during their exchanging of gifts when he suddenly felt something in his left leg.
He saw blood. Friends rushed him to the hospital, but Tayong was discharged after treatment at the emergency room of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
Pañares, on the other hand, was on his way to the house of his uncle, near his own residence, when he was hit in the back of his right knee at 11 p.m. Wednesday.
He did not even hear a shot.
Doctors will wait for the swelling to subside before trying to remove the bullet. Pañares is confined in CCMC.
Splinter
Jennifer Gamboa, 22, was hit by a splinter of a shotgun fired by her neighbor Manuel Villeno in Barangay Quiot at 1:40 a.m. last Dec. 25.
Homicide police investigation revealed that Villeno intervened in the argument between Gamboa’s husband and Villeno’s brother-in-law. Villeno suddenly fired his shotgun.
In Mambaling, a 45-year-old man was also hit by a stray bullet but was not injured. Hajid Abella was eating outside his residence in Ibabao when he suddenly felt something hit his right buttock.
When he checked, it was a deformed slug that hit the wall of his house before hitting him.
Also in Pardo, a stray bullet hit the roof of radio dySS news writer Emmey Lucena that almost hit one of her children on Christmas Eve.
(December 27, 2003 issue)
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