A month after Jore murder: Hitman kills Cebu businesswoman

CEBU, Philippines - A little over a month after a businesswoman was shot dead in a murder that remains unsolved to this day, another businesswoman was shot and killed by a still unknown gunman just outside her home in barangay Camputhaw early yesterday afternoon.

Sixty-eight-year-old Chinese-Filipino apartment block owner Ana Cue Yu was shot in the face by one of two men who had come knocking on her gate pretending to look for an apartment unit to rent.

Chief Inspector George Ylanan, head of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Cebu City Police, said the gunman needed only one shot to kill the woman.

A househelp said Yu herself opened the gate to answer the doorbell, as she always does, and allowed one of the two men outside to step inside the gate. From where she was, the househelp said she saw that the man had a companion on a motorcycle.

The househelp said she overheard the man inquiring about an apartment to rent and heard Yu give the man a contact number.

The apartment block Yu owned is just beside her home.

Suddenly, the househelp said, the gunman pulled out a gun and just shot Yu in the eye.

After shooting Yu, who crumpled lifeless to the ground from the single shot to the head, the gunman looked around and caught a glimpse of the househelp at the terrace, who promptly ducked for cover.

By the time the househelp managed to look out from where she hid, the gunman had already boarded the waiting motorcycle and the duo sped off in the general direction of the Cebu Business Park.

The witness described the gunman as in his thirties.

Other househelp and the victim’s son, Victor Yu, rushed the victim to the hospital but physicians at the nearby Perpetual Soccour Hospital said she was already dead on arrival.

Victor, who according to the police owned several boutiques in malls in the city, refused to issue an immediate statement regarding the attack on his mother.

Based on the evidence recovered at the scene, police said the gunman used a .45 caliber pistol in the attack.

Ylanan said it is too early to establish a motive for the killing although the immediate focus would be to find out whether the slain businesswoman did not have any enemies, whether personal or business-related.

The police officer also said it was apparent that the gunman knew his target.

One angle the police are looking into is the alleged practice of the victim of strictly confining her stay-in househelp to the compound, a practice that has been reported to the police.

Yu allegedly never allowed her stay-in househelp to go outside that one time last year, police eventually had to come and rescue three of them. The three were natives of Mindanao.

The practice of Yu in opening the gates herself was reportedly because she never allowed her househelp to even go near the gate.

These allegations could not be confirmed as of press time.

Just a little over a month ago, on February 17, another businesswoman, 33-year-old Lalaine Jore, was shot dead inside her convenience store and internet cafe on Gorordo Avenue by one of two men who had just bought beer from her.

An ex-Army Scout Ranger was later arrested as the alleged gunman while his companion remains at large.

Police have yet to determine the mastermind although stories have been circulating in the Internet about the possible involvement of some prominent personalities in Cebu. (/JST)(THE FREEMAN)