It was temporary liberty or maybe “liberation” for a robbery suspect, who was shot dead shortly after he gained freedom by posting bail.
Less than an hour after getting out of jail in connection with the Rural Bank of Cebu South in Carcar City robbery, a suspected member of bank robbery group was shot dead while on board a car on the National Highway in barangay Pakigne, Minglanilla yesterday afternoon.
Ricoly Igoy, 22, a resident of barangay Soong Dos, Lapu-Lapu City, was on board a white Kia Avella car with plate number YAR 653 along with members of his family when waylaid.
Igoy along with his wife Annalie and mother Leleosa were seated at the back of the car while his 21-year-old sister was at the front seat of the vehicle driven by their cousin Ronald Enario, also 22 years old.
Igoy’s father, Dioscoro, was on board a Starex van following them.
Witnesses said that a gunman riding tandem on a red motorcycle fired five times at the vehicle where Igoy was riding killing the robbery suspect and Enario on the spot.
Igoy’s wife and sister were also hurt, but his mother escaped injury.
The gunmen reportedly did not wear any helmet or bonnet to cover their faces. Nobody was also able to give the police the plate number of the motorcycle.
The family of Igoy just posted a P100,000 bail for his temporary liberty on robbery charges with violence and intimidation filed against him at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Minglanilla police station chief Sr. Inspector Romeo Santander, said that they received the alarm at about 1:10 p.m.
Santander said that when they arrived at the crime scene, they saw Igoy’s wife and his sister asking to be brought to the nearest hospital while Igoy and his cousin were already lifeless.
The mother of Igoy, who sat near the door, was nowhere in sight when the police arrived, Santander said.
Annalie and Chona were immediately brought by the police to the Minglanilla District Hospital, but were later transferred to the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
Annalie sustained minor injury at her left arm while Chona was also injured on her left arm.
Igoy sustained two gunshot wounds at his head while Enario was hit on the chest.
“Tulo ka bangag sa bala ang miigo sa salamin sa awto, duha niini gitumong sa drayber samtang ang laing lungag diha sa tuong bahin sa awto tumong sa gilingkoran ni Ricloy,” Santander said.
It took almost two hours for the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) to arrive at the scene. Kibitzers were already milling around the crime scene and traffic was stalled.
The Soco recovered two empty shells of .357 caliber revolver and found the certificate of discharge from the Bureau of Jail Management of Carcar.
FAILED HEIST
Last April 28 Igoy along with Nelson Guiterrez Jr., his distant relative, robbed the Rural Bank of Cebu South and held hostage a bank employee.
Igoy was shot during that heist while his companion was killed.
Igoy survived gunshot wounds in his right shoulder, right leg, hip and a graze wound on the forehead and was taken to the Carcar City District Hospital, where police questioned him, before he was transferred to a hospital in Cebu City.
He was released from the hospital last May 2 and was committed to the Carcar City Jail.
MEANT TO SILENCE?
Santander believes that the attack bore the signs of an operation intended to silence any future testimony in court or revelations to the police.
But he dismissed the speculations that the so-called vigilantes were responsible for the killing.
Links To Rob Groups
Igoy was linked to some members of the robbery group formed by jailed leaders Rey Torres, Danny Limotan, Dorotheo Imperial, and Danilo Flores. These men were tagged responsible for the series of robberies in Metro Cebu since 2003.
Prior to the incident, Santander said that Igoy’s wife and sister revealed that somebody told them not to push through with posting bail otherwise something might happen to Ricoly.
Santander said he will be inviting the father of Igoy today for further questioning as to why he did not contact the police immediately after the incident.
“It’s seems to be questionable kay nganong wala man makatabang iyang father at that time nga nagsunod ra man unta siya? Dili man tingali excuse nga na-rattle kay iyaha gud nang pamilya ang biktima,” Santander said.
Conspiracy Theory
The relatives of Igoy however accuse the officials of the Carcar City Jail to be involved in plotting the assassination.
Christopher Ygot, cousin-in-law of Igoy, told The Freeman in a telephone interview last night that the jail officials seem to have purposely delayed the release of Igoy, which he suspects was meant to buy time to set up the assassination.
Ygot said that the release order was issued by Regional Trial Court judge Ramon Codilla last Tuesday yet, but the Carcar City Jail officials allegedly refused to release Igoy on that day.
According to Ygot, jail warden Benjamin Oira did not release Igoy because it was no longer office hours prompting them to return early yesterday morning.
However, Oira did not immediately release the victim claiming that they still have to verify the authenticity of the release order.
Ygot said that the jail officials claimed that the release order did not bear a dry seal from the court prompting them to go back to Cebu City to have the order stamped.
It was only at 12:20 in the afternoon yesterday that Igoy was officially released.
“Konsabo gyud sila sa warden one hundred one percent,” Ygot alleged.
Oira denied that he purposely delayed the release of Igoy to buy time for the latter’s assassins to position.
The warden explained that it was already past 12 midnight of Tuesday that the alleged release order was brought to them.
He said that they have no way to verify the authenticity of the order prompting him to refuse Igoy’s release.
As a standard procedure, Oira said they need to be sure that the order is authentic especially that the subject is facing a robbery charge.
Igoy’s family is planning to file a case against Oira and the uncle of one of the tellers of the Rural Bank of Cebu South, who was allegedly heard to have threatened the suspect.
According to Ygot, the uncle of Kashi Carolyn Apostol, the bank teller who was held hostage, was heard to have uttered threatening words against Igoy. — (/NLQ)