Friday, February 17, 2012

News Update 2 police assets gunned down

CEBU CITY -- Two police informants were shot dead by unidentified assailants in separate incidents in Cebu City Thursday.
Michael “Kiloy” Moralde, reportedly an informant of the Cebu City Police Office’s (CCPO) City Intelligence Branch, was killed by unidentified men in Barangay Pasil at 3 a.m.
At 12:30 p.m., barangay intelligence network (BIN) member Catalino Entoma, 39, was also shot in the head twice by unidentified men in Unit 2 of the Carbon public market. The BIN is a police auxiliary group.
The string of shooting incidents in the city since Sunday upset Mayor Michael Rama, who ordered police officials to explain the lapses in maintaining peace and order in the city.
“I would like to demand strongly for them to explain to me why I will not get angry,” he said Thursday.
The shootings prompted Mayor Rama to ask what happened to the 44 motorcycles that the City Government has given CCPO.
“Those 44 motorcycles were supposed to be in cycle. Aha man na gipamutang? Basin tua ra na sa usa ka lugar unya manggawas ra og nay action (Where are those motorcycles? Maybe they’re just kept somewhere and would only be used when there is trouble). That’s not supposed to be the case,” said Rama.
He asked where the policemen assigned in Carbon area were and what they were doing when the shooting happened. He said they are supposed to be going around Carbon.
The mayor said the policemen should be able to respond swiftly to alarms in the area considering that he has opened the road to two-way traffic.
An initial investigation of the Homicide Section of CCPO revealed that Moralde, 36, was walking alone in an interior part of Sitio Abuno in Pasil when a man approached him and shot him in the thigh.
The assailant then boarded a motorcycle parked nearby and sped off.
Passersby reportedly saw Moralde sprawled on the floor with gunshot wounds in the thigh, but no one helped him because of fear.
When the policemen arrived, they brought Moralde to the hospital but at 4 a.m., he was pronounced dead.
Four empty shells of a .45 caliber were recovered from the crime scene.
Police Officer 3 Ruth Violango of the Homicide Section said no one saw the face of the assailant, who wore a helmet.
Investigators said they will check on Moralde’s background to determine possible motives for the killing.
Moralde, who was also shot last year, was discharged last August from being an asset.
According to a female informant, some people in the area held a grudge against Moralde because he used his connections as an informant to threaten people in their place.
“Daghan man gud galagot ana niya kay naay mga nadakpan sa drugs tungod sa iyang pagsumbong sa pulis tungod sa iyang pagka asset (A lot of people held a grudge against him because some drug suspects have been arrested after he reported their activities to the police),” Moralde’s father said in a TV Patrol Cebu report.
Nine hours after Moralde was killed, BIN member Catalino Entoma, 39, was also shot in the head twice by unidentified men.
Entoma was walking to Carbon to buy fish with his live-in partner, Mylene Cuna, when two men on board a motorcycle drove between them and shot Entoma twice.
Cuna told investigators that they didn’t notice a motorcycle was tailing them and that it just drove between them and shot Entoma, Homicide Section Chief Jul Muhammed Jamiri said.
Cuna’s killers also wore a helmet, reason why no one can describe their faces.
Entoma succumbed to the gunshot wounds in his head.
He was reportedly assigned to guard the Gaisano South Capital building, which was abandoned after a fire razed the store last December.
Police investigators said he recently reported that some burglars went inside the building and tried to steal some things.
“Maybe naay galagot niya or giinitan siya tungod sa iyang pagsumbong (Maybe somebody was mad at him because he reported the burglary). But we will still have to investigate further,” added Jamiri.
He said this is one of the motives they are looking into, as they try to identify the suspects.
Jamiri clarified that Thursday’s shootings were not connected, and different motives are being considered.
In just five days, four men were wounded and three were killed in separate shootings, including the drive-by shootings in different parts of the city.
Unidentified assailants on board a gray sedan shot five teenagers in separate incidents. One of them was killed.
Julios, 17, and Stephen, 16, were wounded after they were shot at 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday.
The boys were waiting for a jeepney near a pharmacy in Barangay Kinasang-an when men on board a gray sedan drove by and shot them.
The first drive-by shooting happened last Sunday at 12:50 a.m. at the corner of R. Duterte St. and V. Rama Ave.
The victim was identified as Anthony Gabunada, who was about to board a passenger jeepney. He was shot in his left armpit and left side of the body.
On the same day, a 14-year-old boy died after he was shot in the chest.
Three hours later, Mark Joel Doble, 19, was also shot by the same assailants in Barangay Carreta.
Doble was standing at the side of the road with fellow Crips gang members when the assailants passed by and shot him. He was hit in the neck and left side of the buttocks. The assailants also boarded a gray sedan. (JBT/PDF/Sun.Star Cebu)