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Saturday, April 05, 2008
Armed men strafe house of Ronda mayor
By Oscar C. Pineda
CEBU CITY -- Three armed men on a yellow motorcycle are being hunted after they allegedly shot at the house of Ronda Mayor Esteban Sia last Wednesday night.
No one was hurt in the shooting, which happened at 11 p.m. in Barangay Poblacion. The mayor's house is along the highway, across the public market.
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Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria said one of the three bullets hit a wall of the mayor's house.
Valmoria said he has instructed policemen in Ronda town to establish if the three were really aiming at the mayor's house, but could not get too near because a police patrol car was approaching.
He said it was from a distance that the shots were fired.
However, the incident came just two days after another town mayor's aide survived a shooting incident.
Last Monday night, the aide of Tudela Mayor Rogelio Baquero Sr. was shot after attending a graduation ceremony in Barangay Puertobello in the island town of Tudela.
The shooting took place just after Baquerfo boarded his van while his aide Celso Quizon, 51, took the seat behind the driver and sat beside the official's wife.
The bullet only grazed Quizon's cheek.
While police doubt that Baquerfo was the target, the mayor said he was sure the gunman intended to hit him because Quizon was not from Tudela but from Danao City.
In the Ronda incident, Valmoria ordered the police there to regularly conduct "prophylactic patrols" because of a series of shooting incidents.
Although he does not see a need to provide additional personnel for the town's police force, he said he gave instructions to beef up security in the vicinity of Mayor Sia's house.
Earlier, Sia had requested the CPPO if they could spare more personnel for Ronda so they could put up a police outpost in the town's outskirts because of the incidents.
But since Valmoria could not spare any personnel, he instructed them to strengthen their patrolling activities. He also directed the Special Reaction Unit and the Provincial Mobile Group to do the same.
At the time of the shooting, three police officers were conducting patrols when they heard three shots.
A group of men, including another policeman, was also sitting outside the mayor's house and noticed the three men across the street.
For now, Valmoria said they had no evidence to link politics to the attack.
Because there were no spent cartridges recovered at the scene, Valmoria said it was likely that the assailants used a revolver.
In a related development, Valmoria said they were waiting for the warrant of arrest to be issued against the persons involved in the shooting of Sia's bodyguard.
Last November 2, Orlando Ugario was shot dead while his companion Lito Berdigo was wounded.
The witness to the killing, Dolores Pahaganas, was also shot last December but survived the attack.
He said, though, that the two incidents were not related to the sudden increase in the number of shooting incidents in Ronda. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (April 5, 2008 issue)
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