Probe on despite shooting victim's refusal to cooperate

CEBU, Philippines - Following Monday’s shooting incident which wounded a woman, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) insists on continuing with their investigation with or without the victim’s cooperation.

“We need to find the suspect because he is an offender of the law… He is a criminal,” said CCPO Director Melvin Ramon Buenafe yesterday.

Buenafe said Bensing “is not showing interest” in finding out who shot her in Barangay Guadalupe.

“They have their right. That we respect. But we just want to have their cooperation so that we can find the suspect,” the police director said.

Rowena Bensing had refused to cooperate after she was shot on Monday. She insisted she has no enemies who might have planned or instructed the attack on her.

But Buenafe believes the victim may be hiding something from the investigators. There are indicators that she knows of something, which she doesn’t want to divulge, he added.

If Bensing continues to be silent, the CCPO has to use other methods to solve the case without the victim’s help by tapping other witnesses. A police sketch was released.

The CCPO also discovered through the Land Transportation Office that the car Bensing used is registered in Mandaue City under the name of National Irrigation Authority Region – 7 Director Modesto Membreve.

Until now, Bensing continues to be silent even with the new development on her case.

Earlier, investigators eyed a love triangle as one of the motives behind the shooting. Investigators recovered four empty shells of caliber .45 from the scene.

Bensing, a dealer of herbal products, was driving towards the Guadalupe Church last Monday to drop a co-worker off when a gunman on a motorcycle shot her when she stopped for a red light at the Guadalupe-Banawa intersection.

The gunman fired three shots, hitting her once in the body. Bensing managed to drive herself to a private hospital where she is still confined. Her two children and two co-workers witnessed the incident. — THE FREEMAN