A tanod, a cook slain in the city

Two men were shot dead in the city, the first of which was a tanod of barangay Sto. Niño Friday night and the second was a cook of a cafeteria on his way home at barangay Basak-San Nicolas yesterday dawn.

The tanod was 32-year-old Leonardo Bastida who also worked as a laborer at the Carbon Market. He was watching his two friends playing a dama boardgame at the corner of F. Gonzales and Lincoln Streets in barangay Sto. Nino, when killed.

Bastida, a bachelor who resided in Consolacion, was hit at the back of his head with the slug of the bullet embedded between his two eyes. He failed to make it to the hospital alive.

Homicide investigators said an unidentified man came from behind and shot Bastida once in the head. Shortly after Bastida slumped unto a bench, a companion of the killer took a last look at the victim. The two men then casually walked toward the market.

Homicide chief Mario Monilar yesterday said the police have yet to identify the attackers and determine if the killing might have something to do with his job as tanod.

The second man shot dead was Glenn Gantuangco, a 40-year-old cook of the cafeteria of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

He was walking his way home in Caimito Street of the barangay when two men approached and shot him several times.

Responding policemen found him already dead but investigators got some witnesses who were able to identify the gunman and narrate the possible cause of the killing.

Witnesses alleged that a certain Reynaldo Años "alias Tiboy" and a neighbor of Gantuangco were the assailants.

The alleged gunman, right after the shooting, hurriedly went home and took his family with him in leaving the barangay.

Witnesses and neighbors of both the victim and the suspect said the killing could have been triggered by jealousy because Gantuangco reportedly had an affair with a certain Gemma Granada, a live-in partner of the alleged gunman. - Flor Z. Perolina/RAE