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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Assassins asked not to execute reformed ex-convicts
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- Less than a month after walking away from the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center, a trisikad driver was gunned down in Pier 2, Barangay San Roque, Cebu City Tuesday.
Alex U. Mara-Mara, 28, died on the spot. He took two gunshots in the head. He carried his release order from prison in one of his pockets, but that didn't save his life.
Mara-Mara was the 162nd victim of summary executions in Cebu City since late December 2004.
Witnesses told homicide investigators, led by SPO2 Rey Cuyos, that at 12:05 p.m., Mara-Mara was sitting in his trisikad, waiting for passengers, when a man on a black motorcycle stopped near him.
The lone gunman got down from the motorcycle and shot Mara-Mara in the head twice.
He immediately drove away from the crime scene at the corner of Arellano Blvd. and V. Gullas Ext. Witnesses said he covered his face with a bonnet and a helmet, and wore a violet long-sleeved shirt with faded jeans.
Several people saw the killing, but failed to get a good look at the gunman's face.
A police team from the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) unit and Cuyos' team found one slug from a .45 pistol.
A copy of Mara-Mara's release order was also found in one of his pockets.
Mara-Mara was freed from the city jail at 1 p.m. last May 15, after doing time for a robbery case.
Cuyos told reporters that according to Mara-Mara's brother, Rey Allen, 23, his older brother used to be involved in petty crimes in the port area, but has decided to change his life after his release two weeks ago.
Rey Allen's claim was confirmed by San Roque Barangay Captain Rogelio Ruizo.
Although he is not sure if the killing was indeed carried out by vigilantes, Ruizo appealed to those people behind the attacks to give ex-convicts the chance to reform their lives.
Ruizo, however, said that since the vigilante-style killings began, several unscrupulous people in his barangay have started to change, for fear of being killed.
Last week, three people were killed in two cases of summary executions in Cebu City. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(May 31, 2006 issue)
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