POLICE have identified suspects in the killing of a 46-year-old pastor in Barangay Bonbon, Cebu City.
Sup. George Ylanan said their operatives arrested one of the suspects in an anti-illegal drugs operation last Monday afternoon.
Witnesses, he said, still have to confirm if the suspect is part of the group that shot Crisostomo Maternal Jr.
The victim was gunned down last Sunday afternoon after attending a Bible study, not Monday afternoon as reported in Sun.Star Cebu’s June 7, 2016 issue.
Ylanan, the deputy city director for operations, said they are zeroing in on the active participation of Maternal in anti-illegal drug operations in Bonbon by giving information to the police.
The suspects are a group operating in Bonbon and other neighboring mountain barangays in Cebu City.
Investigators have found a text message from the victim’s cell phone, threatening him for reportedly leading the authorities in a drug raid last Saturday.
“It was not a raid,” said Ylanan.
He said members of the Philippine Army were cleaning and fixing the classrooms of a school in Bonbon.
The suspects possibly mistook Maternal’s actions because he invited the soldiers to lunch.
Shot dead
Meanwhile, a 31-year-old errand man was shot to death by his neighbor in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City yesterday morning.
Police arrested Antoninos Sabay, 51, who allegedly killed Jerome Navasca.
Before the incident at 6:40 a.m., Sabay approached Navasca who was sweeping the ground at the back of a church.
A commotion ensued after Sabay asked Navasca to return the P20 he gave to the latter to buy ice.
Sabay, who has difficulty in walking, pulled out a bolo but stumbled and fell.
Navasca grabbed a firewood and attempted to strike Sabay, who was quick to drew out a revolver and shot the victim twice.
The victim succumbed to gunshot wounds in the chest.