AS THEY remember on All Souls’ Day, Nov. 2, their family members who died in separate ambush incidents, two local political families in Cebu continue to seek justice for their slain kin.
Ann Marie Blanco, daughter of the late Ronda Mayor Mariano “Nonie” Blanco III, has called on the police to help them secure justice for her father.
“If they can help, and if they still think that my father ought to be given justice, I hope there is still something they can do about the case,” she said in Cebuano.
The mayor was shot dead inside his office by four assailants past 1 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2018 nearly seven months after the ambush-slay of his nephew Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab.
According to Ann Marie, a Ronda municipal councilor, they have not received any updates from the police since her father died.
“There are still no suspects. There has been no feedback from the PNP (Philippine National Police) since my father’s death. They have not communicated with us,” she said.
“I don’t know if that (justice) exists at this time in our country. Maybe in time, but not this time, not in this administration,” she said.
Both Blanco and Ungab had been tagged as drug personalities. Both denied the allegations.
In 2017, Blanco’s supervising power over the Ronda Police Station was stripped by the National Police Commission after he was included in the narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte.
As for Ungab, then Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido (now Bacolod City deputy director for operations) had filed criminal complaints against him before the Department of Justice and tagged him as a drug protector for lawyering for Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was in Duterte’s narco-list, and his son, self-confessed drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa.
Ann Marie said keeping themselves busy has been their way of coping with their father’s loss.
“We’ve been busy because his obligations and work in the town have been passed on to us. So it hasn’t been easy. But there has been no closure. Not yet,” she said.
Terence Blanco, the slain mayor’s brother, is now Ronda’s mayor.
On the other hand, Efe Rupinta, daughter of the late Ermita village chief Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta, remains hopeful that they could attain the justice their family has been seeking even if two years have passed since her father’s killing.
“I still believe we could have his killers pay for what they did. We have strong evidence. I remain hopeful that justice will be served for there is God. It is what we have been praying for all this time,” the Ermita village councilor told SunStar Cebu.
Imok Rupinta was ambushed in Liloan, Cebu on Nov. 23, 2017.
Imok and his common-law wife, Jocelyn Mendoza, were on their way home to Cebu City when two motorcycles blocked their Isuzu pickup and assailants started shooting at them. Imok was shot in the head twice while Mendoza survived the ambush.
Two suspects have been arrested: a certain Jimmy Largo and Jordan Gera, a vendor at the Carbon Public Market.
One of the witnesses, Rolando Alvares Pacres, in his supplemental affidavit, also implicated an influential official in Cebu City in Imok’s ambush-slay.
Efe said the case hearing in the Mandaue Regional Trial Court is ongoing.
“We are now in the process of presenting our evidence and witnesses in court. The police are already done. We are still waiting for the testimony of our last witness,” she said in Cebuano.
“It has been almost two years already. With the help of those people who constantly show us their support, we have slowly recovered but not to such extent when those suspects would finally be behind bars,” she said.
The Rupinta family is scheduled to offer mass for Imok at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish on Nov. 2. They will gather for the rest of the day at the Queen City Memorial Garden in Barangay Carreta where Imok was laid to rest.