Councilman shot dead in his store

CEBU, Philippines —  A barangay councilman in Malabuyoc town was shot dead by a riding-in-tandem Thursday afternoon while he was manning his store.

Authorities identified the victim as Cerelo Denuyo, 57, incumbent councilman and a resident of Sitio Patag, Barangay Cerdeña, Malabuyoc.

Staff Sergeant Sepjanrey Roda, desk officer of Malabuyoc Police Station, said they received the report of the incident at around 3 p.m. since the area of incident is far from the police station. The shooting, however, happened at around 1:40 p.m. on the said day.

Witnesses told the police that the victim was sitting in front of his store when an unidentified riding-in-tandem suddenly arrived and shot the victim.

“Ang description ani nakakita ang witness na gasakay sa Suzuki sa Raider motorcycle, color black without plate number, then ang backrider, was wearing a jacket with a bonnet, ninaug siya og gipusil tong konsehal,” said Roda.

The suspect was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

Yesterday, Roda told The Freeman that members of their station are still conducting a hot pursuit operation to identify the unknown perpetrators.

They are also gathering pieces of evidence from the crime scene that may help them to determine the motive of the murder.

“Wa gyud. Unidentified (suspects), maong ang among mga personnel ron ana sa area, naningkamot sa pagkuha sa mga evidence ug other witness na makaila sa suspect,” said Roda.

Initially, Roda also said that neighbors of the victim didn’t have a history of having someone he was in conflict with. The station also did not have any records of the suspect that could lead them to possible reason of his murder.

Roda, however, said that their station does not have any possibilities that the shooting incident is election-related considering that the victim is an incumbent barangay official.

“Wala. Walay labot ang election ani. Wala sad ni sya modagan karon, konsehal ra jud sya sa barangay,” said Roda.

The area where the crime happened is an upland area of Malabuyoc town adjacent to Oslob town.

“Patag sya pero daghang kalutsan,” said Roda into the possibility that the suspects were quick to flee the area right after the commission of the crime.

The Malabuyoc police have quickly coordinated the neighboring stations to conduct roadblocks for the suspects’ capture. — GMR (FREEMAN)