|
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Labor leader shot, survives
By Mia E. Abellana
With Elias O. Baquero
CEBU CITY -- Four armed men ambushed a labor leader in Sitio Gaway-gaway, Barangay Uling, Naga in southern Cebu as he was on his way to bring his mother home Monday morning.
Antonio “Tony” Cuizon, 49, president of Panaghiusa sa mga Mamumuo sa Atlas (Pama) survived four gunshot wounds.
His four fingers on his right hand were cut off. He had a graze wound on his right forearm and left neck. A bullet was embedded in his left shoulder.
The side mirror of his car was also damaged.
Cuizon still managed to drive his gray Toyota Corolla (plate number TJB 767) all the way to Barangay Don Andres Soriano (Lutopan), Toledo City to the police precinct.
Cuizon’s companions were unscathed.
However, his granddaughters Skye, three, and Antoinette, six, were reportedly traumatized as they were in the front seat.
His mother Visitacion, 78, and his aunts Nene Villarmia and Freda Baclaan, were in the backseat.
Cuizon had invited Visitacion, Villarmia and Baclaan to join the festivities in Poblacion, Naga, which celebrated the eve of the fiesta last Sunday.
He lives in Naga, while his mother resides in Don Andres Soriano (DAS). He brought along his grandchildren to take them home to DAS.
As the car reached a curve in Sitio Gaway-gaway, they heard two gunshots.
“I thought the car’s engine conked out. The next thing I saw was Tony already bloodied,” Visitacion told Sun.Star Cebu.
Visitacion said she was terrified because something landed on her head when shots were fired.
Two red Honda XTS motorcycles, with two men riding on each, were on either side of the road.
One of the men to Cuizon’s left was armed with a .45 pistol while one to his right had positioned himself with his Armalite rifle.
Witnesses who were at a makeshift waiting shed some 20 meters away said the magazine of the Armalite fell off, which was why the high-powered firearm did not fire.
They said it was fortunate that this happened or else the children would have been hit.
When Cuizon continued to speed uphill, they saw one of the motorcycles chase him.
However, they returned the same way back to Naga.
The witnesses also told Sun.Star Cebu that they noticed the motorcycle on the right side of the road 20 minutes before the shooting.
They said habal-habal drivers asked them what was wrong, but one of them said the motorcycle’s chain was destroyed.
They could not say what the assailants looked like because the faces were reportedly covered with face towels, handkerchiefs and helmets.
They said, though, that the assailants wore black jackets, shorts and rubber slippers.
While two men were waiting for Cuizon, two others on another motorcycle were following him.
When they reached the curve on the road, the motorcycle overtook Cuizon’s car and then positioned across the first two men.
A blue multicab was also following Cuizon, his wife Nanetta told Naga police.
Senior Police Officer 3 Eduardo Bacallan escorted Cuizon from the DAS Police Sub-station to the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City.
Pama secretary Benny Jumao-as believes someone was already monitoring Cuizon’s activities the day before.
Jumao-as told Sun.Star Cebu that since Saturday, someone kept on calling the Pama office asking where Cuizon was.
When they asked who was calling or what he wanted, the caller would put down the phone.
Cuizon’s son, Mark, father of the two girls, said he plans to have his daughters checked because they were traumatized by the incident.
Mark and his sisters, Apple and Crystal, believe the gunmen were from the area. They also hope the police will secure their father in the hospital because they fear those behind the shooting will do what they can to finish him off.
Acting Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Vicente Loot will be sending the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch to help in the investigation.
The Toledo City police, who was first to respond, the Naga Police Station, which has jurisdiction of the area, and the 703rd Provincial Mobile Group, which has a base in DAS, will pitch in. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(October 11, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
