CEBU, Philippines - Carcar Police confirmed that the brother of the alleged gunman in the killing of a teacher in Argao town was indeed their informant.
SPO1 Meliton Agadier of the Carcar Police Station said that Arceli Cabungcal, 25 years old, resident of sitio Dapdap, was one of those who tipped them of the identities of the suspects in the shooting to death of Binlod Elementary school teacher Romeo Duran inside his classroom last February 10.
Arceli was slain last Thursday.
“Apil man unta ni siya sa planong pagpusil sa maestro pero gilipat man siya mao na nga siya misumbong sa pulis,” Agadier added.
Agadier revealed that after the shooting incident that transpired in Argao, Arceli was the one who gave the police a lead as to the identities of the suspects involved.
Agadier said that a number of witnesses saw two men attack the tipster, but that the assailants covered their faces with cloth.
The man riding in pillion who disembarked from the motorcycle and shot Arceli shares body type with that of suspect Jiffy Cavan, according to witnesses accounts, Agadier said.
“Tambokon daw ang mipusil sa biktima, mora gyod daw og si Jiffy ingon ang mga nakakita,” Agadier said.
Arceli was piling sand in barangay Poblacion 3, Carcar City when he was shot several times by an unidentified man.
The laborer was hit in the head and in the body.
PO1 Gilmer Noval said that the fatality was the brother of Arnel Cabungcal who was tagged as the gunman in the killing of Duran.
Noval said Arceli had been jailed before, but that he couldn’t recall anymore the exact charges.
Senior Supt. Erson Digal, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said they received reports that Arceli was silenced by members of his own group who are alleged guns-for-hire.
Arceli had wanted to go with the men who killed Duran but was not allowed by the group.
Arnel and other suspects Marcelo Navares and Jiffy Cavan remain at large. Murder charges have been filed against them.
The alleged driver of the getaway motorcycle identified as Joel Alforque, 32, was arrested by police and has been charged in court. He was collared a few days after the teacher was gunned down.
Arnel was reportedly shot in Aloguinsan town yesterday but this was denied by Insp. Rovic Villarin, chief of the Aloguinsan Police Station, after they checked the area. In an interview over dySS Super Radyo, Villarin said that they went to barangay Rosario in Aloguinsan to check on the report together with the 78th Infantry Battalion but learned that it was a false alarm.
However, he said that there is truth to reports on the said area being used as a hideout.
Barangay Rosario is 15 kilometers away from the town proper of Aloguinsan. – Gabriel C. Bonjoc/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)