Saturday, May 10, 2008 Killers ‘took law into their hands’
PARENTS of robbery suspect Recolly Igoy said the people who killed their son and nephew last Wednesday took the law into their own hands.
Dioscoro, Recolly’s father, said they should have let the court decide his son’s innocence.
“Yawan-on kaayo, mora ug wala nay kalooy. Gusto nalang masakeron tanang membro sa akong pamilya (They took no pity on my son and my nephew. They wanted to kill my whole family),” he said.
He and wife Lily rejected the police accusation that Recolly was also involved in the robbery of a moneychanger in a mall in Cebu City, saying they have pictures to prove that Recolly and his family were with them last April 25 in Simala, Argao.
Injured
Recolly was injured in a shootout during a foiled bank robbery in Carcar City.
Citing the unsolved cases of vigilante-style killings of suspected criminals, the Igoys said they are not interested in the outcome of the police investigation.
But that won’t stop Cebu Provincial Police Director Carmelo Valmoria from continuing with their investigation.
“That’s our job,” he said yesterday.
Valmoria said the family has been cooperative in providing information to the investigators of the Minglanilla Police Station.
In fact, he said, they gave their statements to Senior Insp. Romeo Santander, who is leading the investigation.
State witness
Although Recolly was reluctant to give them information on the robbery of the Rural Bank of Cebu South in Carcar City, Valmoria believes he would have later on agreed to become a state witness and just needed more convincing.
He said that it was Recolly who told him where to locate the getaway car otherwise they would not have been able to find it so quickly.
He noted some cases where reluctant accomplices later agree to turn into state witnesses after their cases are arraigned.
Even with his death, Valmoria assured that they have not stopped looking for Recolly’s companions during the robbery.
Valmoria also clarified radio reports regarding the presence of the Swat van of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office in the scene of the ambush.
There were reports after the shooting that the van was spotted in the area.
He explained that Swat members were in the area to attend a hearing in Talisay City but decided to take their lunch in Minglanilla, where one of their colleagues lived.
When they left their colleague’s house, the shooting had already taken place and the highway swarming was with people so they used the siren.
No hold
Valmoria reiterated that the police do “not take the law into their own hands.”
As to why they did not secure Recolly after the latter posted bail, he said they had no hold on him because he was already released from jail. Recolly also had not signified his intention to cooperate with authorities.
The Igoy family took two vehicles to fetch Recolly from the Carcar Police Station. Ronalde Enario, Recolly’s cousin, drove the car where Recolly, his mother, wife Annalie
and younger sister Chona boarded.
His father was inside the Starex van with two other relatives tailing behind them in case of an ambush.
As they reached Minglanilla town, several gunfire rang out.
Lily recalled that the culprits, on board a DT motorcycle, pulled up on the driver side of their car. After they hit Enario with a single shot, their car went out of control and rammed a multicab by the roadside.
She said Recolly sat between her and Annalie behind the driver. During the attack Recolly asked them to cover him with their bodies.
The gunman casually alighted from the motorcycle and walked towards their car. He tried to open the door in the back seat where Lily was sitting, but it was locked. He went to the other side where Annalie sat.
Because Annalie’s door was not locked the gunman opened it and fired a shot. He hit Annalie in the left hand. To clear his view of Recolly he yanked Annalie out from the car and shot Recolly pointblank in the head.
“Even though I was trying to cover my son, the gunman put the gun near my son’s head and pulled the trigger,” Lily said in Cebuano. (AIV/MEA)
