Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Suspected thief found dead
A MAN accused of stealing fighting cocks in two sitios was found dead in the mountain barangay of Kalibngan, Carcar City, Cebu.
Rosendo Arresgado, 19, reportedly had ignored summons from the barangay captain to answer the allegations.
Barangay Councilor Elmer Sato discovered Arresgado’s body at 7 p.m. in Sitio Bersaros.
The victim was shot in the eye.Arresgado had earned the reputation of stealing fighting cocks from breeders in Sitios Bersaros and Latab.
Sitios
SPO3 Jonas Pananganan, officer-in-charge of the Carcar City Police Station, said reports of stolen fighting cocks in the two sitios never reached their office because residents opted to handle the matter themselves.
He said Kalibngan is 10 kilometers from the city proper.
Pananganan said everyone in the village knew him as a thief of fighting cocks and that they all suspect his death was related to this.
Two persons were the last complainants against him.
The police official said they are looking into the possibility that one of his victims was behind his death.
Summons
Maybe they couldn’t accept that Arresgado remained unpunished because he wouldn’t heed the summons of the barangay captain, he said.
Had they gone to his office to report the thefts, then maybe they would have filed a case against Arresgado, he added.
“The victim still deserved due process even though he had a reputation (for stealing fighting cocks). It’s not good to take the law into your own hands,” Pananganan said in Cebuano. (MEA)
