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Friday, July 06, 2007
Law grad killed by gang war stray bullets
By Jovy S. Taghoy
With Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- A law graduate scheduled to take this year’s bar exams was killed Thursday when members of a gang and its allied fraternity shot two teenagers they mistook to be members of a rival group.
Jake Gallano Chan, a graduate of the University of Southern Philippines College of Law, died of gunshot wounds in the left shoulder and chest before he could be treated at the Chong Hua Hospital.
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He was 33. In his bag, police found review materials, a rosary and a prayer guide.
The shooting happened in front of a comedy bar near Mango Square Mall on General Maxilom Ave., Cebu City at 12:45 a.m. Thursday.
Six men, five of them members of a gang and the other a fraternity man, confronted Joseph Sagano, 19, of Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City; and Junbert Morales, 16, of Barangay Sambag II in Cebu City.
Sagano and Morales make money as jeepney and taxi dispatchers. They said they were just standing in the area when the six men approached them and asked “Naa mo’y grupo, bay?” (Are you members of a gang?).
Morales said he denied being a gang member but one of the men, later identified as Francis Obiso, punched him. The two dispatchers then scampered away.
Stray bullets
Obiso and another member, later identified as Jimmy Tisaluna, shot them thrice.
When the two gang members fired their guns, Chan was walking toward a nearby Star Mart convenience store. He got hit.
One of the bullets also hit Edwin Campo Cabuenas, a 42-year-old driver of Marmic Taxi. Cabuenas was waiting for passengers when he got hit in the back by a stray bullet. He was taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
PO1s Edward Escultor and Dennis Mosqueda of the Fuente Osmeña Police Station arrested Obiso, 22; Tisaluna, 19; and Arman Adlawan, 18, near the Foodarama supermarket. Police said that Obiso and Tisaluna were still holding their loaded .38 revolvers when they were arrested.
The three other men managed to escape.
The three arrested suspects and the ones who escaped will be charged with murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder. Separate charges of illegal possession of firearms will also be filed against Obiso and Tisaluna.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Acting Director Patrocinio Comendador said more policemen will be deployed to secure the area.
He will also study what other security measures can be implemented to prevent a similar incident. Unlike fraternities, Comendador said gangs are “loose groups” with no identified leaders to manage their members.
Restrictions
At Cebu City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he’ll deploy police and intelligence operatives in places and nightspots frequented by gang and fraternity members to avert violence.
But the mayor said his policy of not running after gangs and fraternities still stands.
“I’m very much against running after a fraternity because you’re alienating the entire group... These are things that don’t have one-step solutions. What we can do is to crack down on all these incidents and impose restrictions until everything is under control,” he told reporters.
Osmeña said the City Government will deploy policemen in certain areas during critical hours, specifically Mango Square, Crossroads in Banilad and Paseo in Mabolo.
The mayor said it is important to allow fraternities and gangs to be part of mainstream society, as a long-term solution to violence.
Intelligence operatives, he said, will also be deployed to observe activities in those areas.
“Or we can also put physical limitations on the capacity or the number of people who will be allowed inside to help control the crowd. All these things are under study. We’ll see what other sanction we can make,” he said.
Seminarian
Chan’s mother, Lourdes, arrived in Cebu from Tacloban City. In a report over ABSC-CBN TV Patrol Cebu, she cried for justice for her son.
Chan’s remains are now at the St. Peter Funeral Homes on P. Burgos St., across Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Lourdes appealed for assistance so she can bring her son back to Tacloban City.
Chan is the eldest of three siblings. He was described by his mother and classmates, who went to the funeral parlor Thursday, as “very religious and a good person.”
Chan, a seminarian, graduated last April and was preparing to take the bar exams this September.
Several days back, he called his mother to speak about his plans after taking the bar exams. Lourdes said her son had decided to go back to the Sacred Heart Seminary in Tacloban City. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (July 6, 2007 issue)
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