A WOMAN who survived a shooting incident last June 28 identified her gunman from a television report on the arrest of suspects in the ambush of another woman.
Rosita Labor, 45, immediately contacted radio station DySS and was referred to the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office so she could file a complaint against Rodelito Buenavista, 23.
Buenavista was recently arrested as one of the suspects in the ambush of businesswoman Debbie Yu last Aug. 4, 2010. Yu survived, but her driver Sonny Boy Mahilum died.
Labor believes that Marites Velasco, the suspected mastermind in the Yu ambush, also had a hand in her shooting nearly two months ago.
PO1 Junard Cinco told Sun.Star Cebu that Labor, of Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City, was about to sleep at 11:30 p.m. last June 28 when she heard a knock on her kitchen door.
She opened the door and saw Buenavista, but then tried to close the door again because she felt uneasy.
The man, however, poked a gun through a small opening and fired, hitting her in the chest. He fled on foot. Labor spent a few days in the hospital but recovered.
In a dySS interview, Labor recalled she had an argument with Velasco, days before the shooting. Labor admitted she owed the woman some money.
A few days ago, when she saw Buenavista on TV, she recognized him as the same man who shot her at home. She made sure when she looked at his picture in the newspapers the next day.
Buenavista, together with Velasco, John Joy Palopalo, Orbel Inihao and Aldrin Montecalvo, are now detained and facing murder and attempted murder charges in the Yu ambush.
Their co-accused, Ike Palopalo, remains at large.
PO3 Dioscoro Arong of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office asked for Labor’s medical certificate so they can prepare a new complaint against Buenavista.
SPO1 Kerwin Bejer of Mandaue City Police Office has offered to assist Labor if she is willing to confront Buenavista face-to-face. (OCP)