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Tuesday, February 08, 2005
4 gunned down; 3 linked to crime
By Mia E. Abella
With Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- The bodies of two men were found dumped on a road leading to the minors' detention center and the Cebu provincial jail in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City Monday night.
The killings preceded the fatal attacks on two cousins last Sunday and the shooting of a man whom police described as a "notorious character."
Three tanods on a regular patrol on board a multicab found the two bodies sprawled almost in the middle of the asphalted but unlighted road in Sitio Pagtambayayong Home-owners Association at 9:30 Monday night.
Both men, said to be between 35 and 40 years old, did not have identification cards and had marks around their neck and both hands, indicating they may have been hog-tied and strangled.
Both were wearing black denim pants, black shirts and leather shoes.
A letter stuffed inside the pocket of one victim read, "Kami mga tulisan, kawatan. Layas namo kay kamo isunod (We are robbers, thieves. Flee, for you will be next)."
Homicide investigator Senior Police Officer 1 Zenaido Pastofirde said they have to check the men's background.
Vigilante-style killings started in Cebu City last Dec. 22, just a day after Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced he is forming a special police team to go after suspected criminals.
More than 20 men, most of whom were suspected or previously convicted felons, have been gunned down since then.
The Cebu Archdiocese and a multisectoral alliance are trying to rally people to protest the summary executions.
On Monday, frustrated that he missed his target, a man believed to be a vigilante shot the dog of his would-be victim.
The gunman shot the barking dog of Baldecrode Lambo, 46, inside his house where he was attacked at 2 a.m. Monday.
Cousins Domingo Avila Jr., 21, and Elvis Enoc, 20, meanwhile, died on the spot after unidentified gunmen inside a speeding multicab shot them at 10:50 p.m. Sunday.
Suspected robber Joel Demape, 21, was shot at 12:30 a.m. in the right forearm but survived.
Residents said the man who shot the dog was the same one who fired at Demape.
Lambo's mother Salome told Sun.Star that she called out to her son when she heard someone enter their shanty in the interior part of Sergio Osmeña Blvd. Lambo rushed out and fled through a backdoor.
The gunman, wearing a jacket and his face covered, fired at Salome who was lying in bed but missed. The gunman turned at the barking dog and shot it in the head.
Salome said the gunman barged inside the house like a criminal. She doesn't know where her son is now. Two empty shells and the dog's corpse were found at the scene.
She said her son was merely dragged into robbery and theft cases because he sold stolen goods.
Records at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) showed that Lambo was first jailed on Jan. 7, 1999 for theft and concealing a deadly weapon. He posted P500 bail.
He returned to jail on Nov. 6, 2002 for robbery and was released on March 7, 2003 after the case was provisionally dismissed.
Meanwhile, Avila and Enoc, residents of Unit I Oprra, Barangay Kalunasan, were walking along Freedom St. in Peace Valley when a white multicab with a blue stripe followed them.
Just then, someone from the multicab shot Avila, hitting him on the chest.
Seeing his cousin fall, Enoc ran as fast as he could, with the multicab chasing him.
He tried to climb a gate in one of the houses in the area, but the assailants got to him first. He was hit him in the right side of his body.
Avila and Enoc had no records at the BBRC and the Kalunasan Barangay Hall, so their relatives are sure vigilantes were not behind the killing.
Avila's father Domingo Sr. and Enoc's stepfather Diolito Villegas, in separate interviews, attested to their sons' innocence. They believe the two were just mistaken for thieves.
They learned that there were several theft incidents in Peace Valley the past days and it was possible someone believed they were responsible.
"Vigilantes are careful with their targets. They only hit those with records," Domingo Sr. said.
"Enoc is a good person. He's silent," Villegas, who is married to Enoc's mother for five years, told Sun.Star.
Enoc was a construction worker while Avila just ended his contract with Pacubas General Services where he worked as a janitor detailed at SM City mall.
Randy Bayo, a security guard detailed at Leona Townhomes, saw the incident but could not give the multicab's plate number.
Police recovered three empty shells believed to have come from a .45 pistol.
Unlike Avila and Enoc, Demape is in the rogues' gallery of the Waterfront Police Station. He is reportedly involved in snatching and robbery cases.
There were conflicting reports about the date of his release from the BBRC.
A police report said he was released three days before he was shot while his cousin Ellen Olorvida said he came home last Nov. 25.
But BBRC records showed that his last day in jail was last March 28, 2001 yet.
Olorvida said she was with Demape and several others watching a game of tong-its at a sidewalk on S. Osmeña Blvd. when a man on a dark blue motorcycle arrived.
Olorvida said they did not mind him at first because he just sat on the motorcycle for about five minutes.
A black car with no plate number later arrived and stayed behind the motorcycle.
Demape ran to an alley when he saw the man pull out a gun and aim at him.
Demape was wounded on the left forearm. The man on the motorcycle fled with the black car tailing him.
Demape was rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center and was transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
Olorvida said her cousin's last case was for drugs.
She said only vigilantes could have been behind the shooting because he had no other enemies.
(February 8, 2005 issue)
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