CEBU, Philippines - A man who has just posted bail for an illegal drug case was shot and killed by two unidentified men along Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City around 4 p.m. yesterday.
The victim, who is in his early 30s, was on the front seat of a taxicab when the assailants opened fire at him several times. He was identified as Raul Dadang, a resident of Ozamiz City.
His two companions – his pregnant girlfriend and an unidentified man – who were on the backseat were unhurt during the incident. But the driver, Joar Miranda, sustained several gunshot wounds.
Dadang, who was allegedly being detained at the Cebu City Police Office, has just come from the Palace of Justice where he posted a P40,000 bail for an illegal drug case.
SPO4 Alex Dacua of the CCPO Homicide Section said the victim has several tattoo marks in his body.
The assailants, wearing helmets and jackets, hit the victim four times in the chest. Miranda, driver of the taxicab bearing plate number GVW-727, was also hit in his right elbow and right thigh.
Eight empty shells of .45 caliber pistol were recovered from the crime scene.
Arsenio Yap, a member of the Barangay Intelligence Network who was detailed along Sanciangko Street, was the first to rush to the crime scene.
He then drove the taxicab and took Dadang and Miranda to the Cebu City Medical Center where Dadang was declared dead on arrival.
PO1 Jodan Batucan said that as the assailants peppered the victim with bullets, the two passengers at the backseat immediately got off the vehicle and ran away.
Dadang and his companions were reportedly on their way to Barangay Pasil and to a pension house along Manalili Street where he and his girlfriend were staying when the incident happened.
The crime scene was at least 30 meters away from GV Tower where two policemen identified only Police Officers 1 Ragasajo and Gemota were detailed. They, however, refused to give their first names.
Some sidewalk vendors told The FREEMAN that detailed some 20 meters away from the two policemen were PO1s Pino and Bureros, who also refused to give their first names.
A sidewalk vendor, who witnessed the incident, alleged that Ragasajo and Gemota, upon learning of the incident, just kept on asking where the assailants were even though the assailants had just passed them by and sped towards Barangay Pasil.
Another sidewalk vendor alleged that the two policemen responded to the crime scene but the assailants have already fled.
The four policemen claimed to The FREEMAN that they had heard the gunshots and responded immediately to the crime scene.
They said that they were conducting beat patrol when they responded to the area but the assailants have already fled.
Ragasajo denied the allegations that they saw the assailants, saying that the assailants have fled already when they responded to the crime scene, and that the victims were already taken to the hospital.
He said a bystander told him that the motorcycle used by the perpetrators has a plate marked with “For Registration.”
The police are still conducting investigation into the incident and Dacua said Dadang was the only target of the perpetrators.
A report said that Dadang was accosted by police at Fuente Osmeña last week for allegedly possessing an icepick.
While being frisked, police reportedly found in his possession several drug paraphernalia.
Dadang was charged with violation of Section 12 Article II of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the illegal possession of drug paraphernalia law, before the Regional Trial Court. — Niña G. Sumacot with Jasmin U. Labaco/LPM (THE FREEMAN)