Saturday, September 29, 2007 Victim No. 181 By Karlon N. Rama & Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A MAN was shot dead right outside the back gate of the MBF Palace of Justice in Capitol Site, Cebu City yesterday afternoon. A homicide investigator described the manner of killing as “vigilante style.”
The victim’s 19-year-old daughter, Mardeth, identified the fatality as Marlon Galinzuga, 40. He lived across the place where he was shot—the corner between Don Gil Garcia and M. Velez Sts.
Galinzuga bore gunshot wounds to the head, the back and the arms. He lay face down. Empty cartridge casings were found around him.
Galinzuga is the 181st victim of vigilante-style killings since December 2004, based on records of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Homicide Section.
So far, the police have no strong leads to pin down suspects in most of the killings. They have said witnesses and relatives are hesitant to come forward to give information.
SPO1 Jay Yballe, an investigator from the Homicide Section, said witnesses could not give a description of the shooter or shooters.
Apparently, he said, nobody saw the killing even if the attack happened in broad daylight, around 4:30 p.m., and at a very busy spot.
People who have business at either the Provincial Capitol or the Marcelo B. Fernan Palace of Justice usually enter and leave via the rear gate because it is only a few feet from a jeepney stop.
A Capitol security guard, identified as Alvin Ceballo, is posted at the rear gate. The police was unable to take his statement, as his shift ended before homicide investigators arrived.
The rear gate also isn’t covered by the Provincial Government’s surveillance security system.
Yballe had to interview several people in order to piece together an initial narration of what transpired.
Based on the initial interviews, the victim was shot once from behind. The shot caused him to fall. The rest of the shots were fired when he was already sprawled on the ground.
There could have been more than one assailant because, a Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) personnel confirmed, more than one type of cartridge casings were found.
The shooter or shooters, in turn, alighted from a small motorcycle that had been parked at a nearby bakery. They returned to the vehicle after the shooting and sped away in the direction of M. Velez St.
Mardeth, the eldest of Marlon’s four children, said her father was only released from detention at the Guadalupe PNP Station about a month before.
She said he was detained after being impleaded in a robbery incident three months before. The complaint got elevated to court but he was not among those impleaded.
She said the victim hadn’t been living with them in Guadalupe. Instead, she said, he lived with his father only a few minutes’ walk from where the shooting took place.
