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Friday, October 28, 2005
Land dispute eyed behind death of 3 in Angeles
By Dante M. Fabian
ANGELES CITY -- The killing of three people in a drive-by shooting in Pulung Maragul, Angeles City on Wednesday has left police baffled, but surmised that a land dispute may be the motive behind the incident.
The victims--Pampanga Provincial Board (PB) employee Francisco S. Rivera, 54, of 2410 Surla St., El Cano Subdivision, Pulung Bulo and chairman of Bayan Pampanga and Angeles City; dentist Angel D. David of 148 Don Pepe Henson St., Marisol Village, Ninoy Aquino; and balikbayan Nemesio M. Maniti, 61, owner of Tox Hardware near the Friendship Highway, of 14-3 Amazon St., Friendship Village, Anunas--died of several gunshot wounds.
Source said David asked Rivera for assistance concerning a land dispute. However, a report said the dispute had already been resolved, the reason why investigators are facing a blank wall on the death of the victims.
Superintendent Reynaldo B. Malonzo, Station 1 chief of the Angeles City police, said the suspects escaped aboard a dark blue Mitsubishi Delica with black stripes and a gray XLT-type jeepney, both with unknown license plates.
Malonzo said doctors from the Angeles University Foundation Medical Center declared the victims dead on arrival.
He said Rivera died of nine gunshot wounds he sustained after still unidentified assailants shot him while he and the other victims were having a conversation in front of his house.
David succumbed to a lone bullet in the chest that pierced through his back while Maniti died of seven gunshot wounds.
Police said the suspects escaped after the shooting.
Police Officer 2 Marvin Pedere, case investigator, recovered eight empty shells of M16 armalite rifle bullets at the scene.
Padere said the victims were having a conversation in front of a store outside the Pionela compound when the suspects drove by and fired at them.
Nick, a younger brother of Maniti, said he and his elder brother, together with David, came from a morning jog at the La Pieta Memorial Gardens before the incident. He said his brother, who had just returned from the US last month, could have been spared from the killing if only the keys to his motorcycle had not been locked inside the compartment.
He said his brother decided to drop by the house of Rivera and wait until a duplicate key could be made for the motorcycle.
The latest killings have made city and barangay officials wonder why they happened.
Vice Mayor Ricardo Zalamea wondered why aside from Rivera, Maniti, a balikbayan, and David, a dentist who had just both came from a jogging routine, should be killed.
Barangay Pulung Bulo chairwoman Gloria Tanhueco, a neighbor of Rivera, criticized the killing of Rivera, David and Maniti. She expressed sympathy for the families of the victims. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
(October 28, 2005 issue)
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