A MAN was killed on the spot after he was ambushed outside the Talisay City Livestock and Poultry Center early morning Monday, Dec. 30, 2019.
The victim was identified as Neil Boligao, a 48-year-old freelance veterinarian and a hog dealer.
The incident happened at 1:45 a.m. while he was inside his pickup truck. Boligao had just come from the slaughterhouse in Sitio Maanyag in Barangay Biasong.
According to Lt. Ralph Celosia, deputy chief of the Talisay City Police Station, two men on board a motorcycle, wearing jackets and full-face helmets, shot and killed Boligao.
Boligao was seen inside the abattoir Sunday night, Dec. 29. He didn’t leave the facility until past 1 a.m.
He was seen driving away when his attackers suddenly blocked his path and the motorcycle’s passenger shot at his windshield several times. The assailants then fled the scene.
Police recovered four bullets from a .45 pistol at the crime scene.
The victim suffered gunshot wounds in the chest, which resulted in his death.
Celosia said they’re looking at two probable motives for the ambush. Either it had something to do with his job as a freelance veterinarian or it was business-related, he said.
“He was coming from the slaughterhouse. That was his job every night, to check and clear pigs bound for slaughter,” the police official said in Cebuano.
Roldan Supatan, focal person of the abattoir, clarified that Boligao was not connected with the government. However, he said the victim issued veterinary health certificates, which authorized the slaughter of a pig or a cow inside the facility.
Supatan said Boligao frequented the slaughterhouse because the latter had his own animals killed there before selling the meat at the Carbon Public Market in Cebu City.
Police will look into reports that the victim had a misunderstanding with his business partner and that he recently fired several workers.
They will check with his family and friends if he had mentioned any threats on his life prior to the shooting, Supatan said.
Police have yet to check for security cameras in the vicinity so they can review the footage of the incident and perhaps identify the perpetrators. (FMD, PJB)