Egg trader shot dead

ILOILO CITY, Philippines —  A quail-egg trading businessman was gunned down at the Iloilo City Terminal Market, City Proper District, at past 6 p.m. Friday.

The victim, 33-year-old Ranny Bibangco, of Tigbauan town in Iloilo, died on the spot from a gunshot wound on his forehead and through his nape.

Police accounts said Bibangco was talking to a friend, a fruit vendor, while sitting on his multi-cab shortly before the shooting episode occurred. A witness claimed that two-motorcycle riding men arrived, then its backrider alighted and made his way near the victim.

The backrider, who was wearing a mask and bonnet, then pulled what seemed to be a .38-caliber revolver and shot Bibangco at close range, but left his friend unscathed.

Superintendent Jonathan Pablito, Iloilo City Police Station 1 chief, said that shortly after the shooting, the gunman left the scene into the waiting blue motorcycle. Witnesses were unable to give a vivid description of the driver, except by saying that the motorcycle has no license plate.

Investigation showed that Bibangco was on his morning routine of delivering quail eggs, and was waiting for his cousin, Edsel, while he parked his multi-cab outside the market when he was gunned down.

Pablito said the police are looking into at least four possible motives behind the killing. “First, there was the love triangle motive,” he said, citing a report from the Tigbauan Police that the victim had an “illicit relationship with the wife of a seafarer.”

The killing could also be business-related, said Pablito, considering that Bibangco— who was earning around P6,000 daily according to his father — parted ways with his business partner, who allegedly threatened him, about three months ago.

Pablito further said the victim was an avid basketball gambler. “There are people who lost big money in the basketball game betting. These people could have harbored grudges against him,” he said.

Finally, the police are also verifying if Bibangco was in the watchlist of illegal drug personalities. But Senior Inspector Hermogenes Eulatic, Tigbauan Police chief, confirmed that the victim had not been in conflict with the law in the town, and was not even on the drug watchlist.