Tuesday, November 08, 2005 (Philippines)

Vigilante and vigilante-style-murders have continued unabated in Cebu City with the police unable or unwilling to solve them. The count as of yesterday: 102 killings, all unsolved, since December last year. Above: latest victim Antonio Medina, 25, was only about five meters from the Mobile Patrol Group office along Arellano Blvd. and was attached inside a passenger jeepney by two men, one of whom fired the gun with a silencer. Eleven empty shells of a .45 pistol were found near the body. The gunman and his companion fled on a motorcyle. (Sun.star photo/Allan Defensor) Vigilantes in Cebu City are getting bolder. Their latest victim was a man who just walked out of detention after he was held for alleged drunkenness. Antonio Medina, 25, was gunned down about five meters from the gate of the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) on Arellano Blvd. Cebu City’s Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team also holds office at the MPG. His neighbor Leo Abayan, 47, who went to the police headquarters to fetch Medina, saw the attack. They were at the roadside waiting for a Colon-bound jeepney. As they boarded the vehicle, two men appeared from behind them and shot Medina several times. [full story]