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Monday, October 31, 2005
2 shot, killed in barangay fiesta
By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A barangay fiesta in Minglanilla town turned bloody after a councilman and his cousin were shot dead by a man they accosted for speeding.
Gilbert “Bobet” Cañares, 42, a councilor of Barangay Tunghaan, died of two gunshot wounds in the head an hour after he was taken to a private hospital in Cebu City.
Gilbert’s cousin Antonio Cañares Jr., 35, a former tanod in the barangay, died before reaching the nearby South General Hospital. A bullet hit his heart.
Both victims are relatives of Tunghaan Barangay Captain Jerry Cañares.
The Minglanilla Police Station, headed by Insp. Carlos Reyes, initially identified the suspect as Jun Macaantal of Barangay Bacayan, Cebu City.
Reyes and his men, however, will have to explain why, according to Jerry and several Tunghaan residents, they failed to immediately respond when barangay tanod Wenefredo Prangos arrived at the police station to ask for assistance.
Jerry said the incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. yesterday, but responding policemen SPO1 Jorge Yap and PO3 Sherwin Abellari arrived at the crime scene past 4 a.m.
Tunghaan is the barangay next to Poblacion, which is more than one kilometer away from the police station.
The crime occurred in a barangay road in Sitio Abuno, some 10 meters away from the national highway and 100 meters from the Tunghaan Barangay Hall.
Benefit dance
Based on the information gathered by Jerry and the police, the victims and several other residents in the barangay gathered along the roadside after joining a benefit dance nearby.
The benefit dance was part of the activities of a barangay that culminated its weeklong celebration in honor of San Agustin de Hippo.
While they were talking, a speeding grey Starex van (GDL 477), heading toward Sitio Maria Respondo, passed by them.
Wanting to call the attention of the driver, Gilbert and his companions used a wooden table in blocking the road while flagging down the van.
When the van stopped, the victims approached the driver, who was later identified as Macaantal, and tried to interrogate him why he was driving so fast along a barangay road.
Macaantal did not get off the van and only rolled down the window while talking to the victims.
Five shots
Nestor Villafuerte, one of the victims’ companions, told Jerry and the police that he then saw Macaantal suddenly shoot Gilbert twice, then Antonio.
Macaantal, who was with four other people in the van, allegedly fired three more shots before fleeing.
Jerry said they recovered one empty shell of a 9mm pistol at the crime scene.
He said that about two minutes after the incident, tanod Prangos boarded a motorcycle to report the incident to the police station.
But Yap merely told Prangos that the police would just check the crime scene later.
“(Prangos) asked Yap to send a radio message to Pardo and police stations nearby so they could set up a blockade. But Yap said they don’t have Pardo’s number, and he was busy entertaining a woman inside the police station,” Jerry said.
He said that while Prangos was sent to the police station, they also tried calling the police station several times but the phone just kept on ringing.
Ultimatum
Jerry’s complaint has reached Acting Cebu Provincial Police Director Vicente Loot, who told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that he would relieve Yap, Abellari and Reyes.
Reyes and the two policemen will also be investigated administratively for possible violation of dereliction of duty.
Reyes denied the allegations.
Loot said he gave Reyes a 24-hour ultimatum to arrest Macaantal.
Jerry and the police found out that Macaantal went to the area to send home his girlfriend Wen-Wen Geonzon, a resident of Sitio Maria Respondo.
Geonzon showed up at the police station yesterday to help police conduct a hot pursuit operation against Macaantal.
Before the shooting in Sitio Abuno, tanods assigned at the outpost near the barangay hall were alarmed by an indiscriminate firing incident in Sitio Maria Respondo, also allegedly involving Macaantal.
Missing
Assisted by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) and Talamban policemen, Reyes’ team went to Bacayan to arrest Macaantal.
But Macaantal’s wife told them that the suspect was no longer in their house and was last seen around 8 a.m., Reyes said.
The van was parked in the house’s premises.
Reyes said they searched Macaantal’s house, with the consent of the wife, but didn’t find him.
Macaantal and his four unidentified companions may be charged with murder or homicide, depending on the evidence and statements of witnesses that police could gather.
As to the Minglanilla police’s delayed response, Reyes, in a mobile phone interview, said his men did not ignore the call for assistance and immediately went to the area.
He said the telephone line of the police station has been defective since last Friday, which was why they failed to take the calls.
On the alleged conduct of SPO1 Yap inside the police station, Reyes assured to investigate it.
Abellari, in a brief interview with Sun.Star Cebu at the police station, said he and Yap immediately went to the area after receiving the call for assistance.
Yap was not at the station to issue his comment.
Abellari said Yap was at a wake of a fellow Minglanilla policeman.
(October 31, 2005 issue)
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