2 men shot to death in Basak San Nicolas

Two men were shot dead by motorcycle-riding men at sitio Crossing in barangay Basak-San Nicolas the other night, and police has been looking into illegal drugs war as the possible motive behind the killing.

Police said the fatalities were Jude Goc-ong, 29, and Santos “Dodong” Tabada Jr, both of sitio Ubos Puso of the same barangay.

Homicide policeman PO2 Geoffrey Gutual told The FREEMAN that the assailants were reportedly riding a motorcycle while tailing Goc-ong and Tabada who were walking in the area.

The two were on their way home after attending a hearing at the barangay hall to answer charges of theft of a barangay footpath filed by a concerned barangay resident. They were apparently unaware that they were the target by the motorcycle-riding men.

Gutual said the backrider, who was wearing a baseball cap, disembarked first and the driver, wearing a crash helmet, continued driving then passed by the two victims before stopping ahead.

The driver immediately disembarked and walked toward the approaching victims then shot Goc-ong several times. Tabada, upon seeing what happened to Goc-ong quickly made a turned his back and ran but the backrider, who alighted from the motorcycle first, was there waiting and opened fire at Tabada.

Goc-ong died on the spot. He was hit twice in the chest, twice in the shoulder, armpit and right side of his body. Tabada was hit in back of his head and left side of the neck.

Scene of the Crime Operation policemen recovered six empty shells of .45 caliber bullets from the scene.

Gutual said that Goc-ong had a jail record at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center in 2001 for drug-related cases and, based on information from residents, Goc-ong was reportedly involved in swindling activities related to the illegal drug trade. 

There were unconfirmed reports that Tabada was involved in several theft cases which caused him to be going in-and-out of jail.

Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador suspected that the killing might be a drug-related case, based on the theory that killing someone because of involvement in robberies may be an insufficient motive, except when the killer has decided to put the law in his hands.

“The way I see it, this might be connected to illegal drugs, kay kanang kawat di na kaayo reason aron mopatay og tawo. Maybe they want to set an example,” Comendador said.

The Homicide Section has been verifying the report that the victims were allegedly friends of Joebert “Amang” Sanico, 22, who was also shot last June 6 in sitio Kauswagan barangay Basak-Pardo.

Sanico, accused of being involved in petty crimes in the area, survived the attack. — Edwin Ian Melecio with Guamittos Logroño (BANAT correspondent)/RAE