Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Cabbie found with gunshot wound in head, empty wallet outside church By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A TAXI driver was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head, in what police investigators considered could be a case of a robbery with homicide, just outside a church in Cebu City.
Nicanor Ombao Panugaling, 28, of Sitio Panagdait in Barangay Kasam-bagan, Cebu City was first found by a roving security guard of Redemptorist Church inside the taxi he was driving.
The taxi unit of Regional Taxi (GWP 376) was parked in front of the church on Ramon Aboitiz St., Barangay Camputhaw.
Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador said Panugaling may have been killed at around 1 a.m. because his body was already in the state of rigor mortis or already started to stiffen when it was found at 6 a.m. yesterday.
Comendador, however, said investigators are not yet ruling out other motives by the assailants such as a personal grudge.
Panugaling’s live-in partner, Gwen-dolyn, however, believes that the taxi driver was killed by those who robbed him.
She said Panugaling was a good person and had no enemies.
The couple last saw each other at 10 a.m., Sunday, when Panugaling fetched Gwendolyn in their house and brought her to a church in Lapu-Lapu City.
She said she even invited Panugaling to hear mass with her, but the latter declined and just told her to include him in her prayers and light a candle for him.
The next thing she knew, Panugaling was already dead.
Gwendolyn said she had earlier warned Panugaling to stop driving a taxicab since she worried over his safety. Gwendolyn’s brother, who also reportedly drove a taxicab, had been victimized by robbers.
Panugaling was found by security guard Jessie C. Balintag, 36, of Archangel Security Agency, who is detailed as the night shift guard and reports for duty from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Balintag told a team of Homicide Section investigators led by SPO4 Alex Dacua that at 3 a.m., he noticed the taxicab parked in the area.
Panugaling appeared to be sound asleep, Balintag said.
At 6 a.m., Balintag went back to Panugaling’s cab supposedly to advise the latter not to park in the area, but discovered about the driver’s death.
Policemen from the Mobile Patrol Group and the Fuente Osmena Police Station rushed to the area after receiving Balintag’s call for assistance.
Responding policemen found Panugaling in the driver’s seat with a single gunshot wound at the back of his head.
Personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) found Panugaling’s wallet in the back seat and it no longer had any cash inside it.
Some coins, amounting to P144, were found near the driver’s seat.
Comendador, in a news conference, said they are still looking at all angles to solve Panugaling’s killing.
Based on the information relayed to him by homicide investigators, the suspects may have boarded Panugaling’s cab from outside the city before the incident happened.
The taxi meter registered more than P700, an indication that the vehicle had traveled far before it parked in front of the church.
There was also no indication of a struggle inside the taxicab and the vehicle was properly parked, Comendador said.
