Man shot during birthday party

CEBU, Philippines - Birthday smiles turned into expressions of horror after a partygoer was hit on the head with a stray bullet along H. Borgonia Corner J. Joaquino Street, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City yesterday dawn.

Cebu City Police Office homicide investigator SPO4 Alex Dacua told The FREEMAN that Mariano Diola Jr., 24, was drinking with his friends at the side of the road to celebrate the birthday of a certain Allen Ortiz.

Dacua said that the group was reportedly enjoying their time when suddenly, a gunshot rang out from a distance.

Right after the shot caught the group’s attention, Diola slumped on the ground with blood oozing from his head.

His relatives and friends rushed him to the Chong Hua Hospital for immediate medical attention.

Diola is currently confined at the hospital’s intensive care unit because of his critical condition. The bullet remains lodged in his head. He was hit on the upper portion of his left eye.

The police, according to Dacua, are currently considering several angles. Investigators are considering the possibility that the incident was because of personal grudge, but they are also not discounting the possibility that Diola was a victim of indiscriminate firing.

Meanwhile, Librando Vilarta, 20, a car washer of Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City was stabbed by an unknown suspect on Friday inside their carwash station at Barangay Labangon.

The victim’s brother, Gel, 18, said he was with the victim inside the carwash station when the incident happened at a 10 p.m.

He said that five unidentified armed men stormed inside their carwash station and harassed his brother verbally before he was attacked.

One of the assailants, armed with an unidentified gun, poked a gun at the victim shouting “Hain man ang nag bunal ani nimo? (Which of them hit you?)”

But one of the men, armed with a bladed weapon, suddenly approached the victim and stabbed him on the left side of the body.

The victim fell on the ground bloodied while his assailants immediately fled. He was rushed to Cebu City Medical Center.

Dacua, who also investigated the incident, said the attack was because of previous fight over a broken cell phone which the suspect reportedly purchased a month ago.

“Tungod to sa gibaligya nga guba na cellphone diin nakadapat gyud siya,” he said. The victim, according to Dacua, is in critical condition because of his wound.

The police are currently searching for the whereabouts of the assailants. (FREEMAN)