Man who slew couple identified

CEBU, Philippines - Police said they have identified the man who shot an octogenarian couple dead inside their house in Barangay Guadalupe, Carcar City, recently.

Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Jr., director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, said they are now gathering more evidence to implicate the suspected assailant.

“Naa na ta’y name sa suspect, ang pag-gather na lang sa evidence. I’ve already directed the Carcar police to track down this suspect,” Comendador told reporters yesterday.

Comendador said the suspect, who is not related to the couple Renerio Neri, 83; and Dolores Neri, 82, was motivated by a “personal grudge”.

The assailant was allegedly identified by a witness to whom the assailant allegedly disclosed how he performed the crime.

“Naa’y mga detalye told to this person how the crime was done (by the suspect). We’re gathering more evidence to support this,” the CPPO director added.

The childless couple, who owns parcels of land in Carcar City and in Alcoy town, were found dead inside their house with gunshot wounds in their chest last Sunday.  They were believed to have been killed Friday night and Saturday dawn.

Police have initially looked into robbery, land dispute, even Renerio’s being an alleged faith healer, as possible motives behind the crime.

Meanwhile, police have also come up with a cartographic sketch of one of the assailants who shot and killed a 50-year-old woman in Barangay Pangdan, Naga City, last Monday.

Comendador said they have distributed a copy of the sketch to the different units in CPPO as well as in police offices of Cebu City and Mandaue City to compare this with the faces in their respective rogue’s gallery or pictures of criminals who were previously arrested.

Comendador said they are trying to locate Reynaldo Hernani who is believed to be behind the attack on Margarita Capablanca, who died in the shooting.  Her son Joel Capablanca, 33, escaped serious injury.

Hernani can also come out into the open, Comendador said, if he is not guilty.  The CPPO director said he will be providing policemen to secure Capablanca and his family 24 hours following the incident.

Last Monday morning, Margarita and Joel were waiting for a bus bound for Cebu City to attend a court hearing for the attempted murder case against Hernani when they were shot at by three men on a blue Honda XRM motorcycle with no license plates.   (FREEMAN)