2 houses strafed in Bogo City

CEBU, Philippines - Brgy Cayang Councilman Teofilo Tudtud was unhurt but retired SPO2 Cueva was wounded in the knee with 78 bullet holes in his house

The strafing of two houses with the use of high-powered firearms shocked Bogo City yesterday.

The house of a retired policeman and security officer of Bogo City Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr. as well as the house of a barangay councilman was strafed by unidentified gunmen on board motorcycles shortly after Tuesday midnight.

Retired SPO2 Constancio Cueva, 57, from Barangay Taytayan, was injured in the left knee after he knelt on broken jalousie blades which were hit by the bullets. He was taken to the Bogo Provincial Hospital for medication and was later discharged.

At the same time, the house of councilman Teofilo Tudtud in Barangay Cayang was also strafed. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Chief Insp. Ceferino Tabay, Bogo police chief, said they are still collating pieces of evidences for the possible identification of the gunmen in both incidents.

In an interview with Cueva, he suspected that gunman possibly had a personal grudge against him. He was stunned by the first burst of gunfire outside his house which was followed by successive bursts, prompting him to grab his licensed caliber .45 pistol from his drawer and returned fire.

He was able to peep at the window and saw the face of the gunman who was in front of their house armed with a KG9 sub-machine gun. Another man posed as back up and was a few meters from their house, armed with a caliber .45 pistol and was firing at their living room.

Cueva feared for the safety of his family and shouted at his two daughters, Yeddah Marie Cueva, 16 and Ronna Cueva, 22, who were inside their room, to drop on the floor.

“Sige na ug siyagit akong anak nga mangayo sila ug armas unya usa ra man akong pistol ako lang sila’ng giingnan nga kalma lang mo unya hapa,” Cueva said. (My children were shouting for guns but I only had one so I told them to stay on the floor and remain calm.)

His wife, Elvira Cueva, helped his husband load the magazine of his pistol.

“Kung wa mi kapabuto ato possibly gyud sudlon mi unya simbako pamatyon,” she said. (Had we not returned fire, it was possible the gunmen would storm in the house to kill us.)

The shootout lasted for about three minutes before the gunmen fled on board a Honda XRM motorcycle.

Cueva’s house has 78 bullet holes. Police recovered 21empty shells of 9mm pistol and six empty shells of caliber .45 pistol outside the house. Another 24 empty shells of caliber .45 pistol were also found inside the house.

Cueva has been serving the Martinezes since 1982 as body guard and even when he was still active in the service. He admitted that it was last December when he received a threat.

He claimed that political rivalry is already a history in Bogo City but said he is not afraid of it as long as his family is kept out of it. At about 3:00 in the afternoon on the same day, somebody asked about Cueva’s whereabouts.

Councilman

While police were conducting an ocular investigation at the house of Cueva, they had to pull out from the area to respond to another strafing incident in Barangay Cayang, located about three kilometers away.

Tabay said the incident happened the same time the house of Cueva was strafed. He said two unidentified men on board a Honda XRM motorcycle also did the crime.

Tudtud said it was about five minutes after he came from the kitchen when the strafing happened. He directed his wife to lie on the floor until the gunfires were gone.

It was about two minutes before the gunmen left. Ten empty shells of caliber .45 pistol and five deformed slugs were found in the scene.

The Bogo City police are now conducting check points and patrols to ease tension among residents. — (FREEMAN)