Love turned sour

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Police Office confirmed that Mabini Barangay Captain Rey Oybenes and Rohama Luague had a relationship for five years before it went sour early this year.

Sr. Supt. Mariano Natu-el Jr., CCPO director, however, said they are not in the position to disclose the reason for the breakup. Oybenes and Luague, Natu-el said, broke up in February.

Oybenes, 39, was married and has children while Luague, 32, was the widow of PO1 Noriel Luague, who was killed in an illegal drug operation in 2007.

Last Tuesday, Oybenes reportedly invited Luague to a dinner in which he gave a bouquet of flowers with a note “I love you and goodbye.”

On Wednesday evening, Oybenes reportedly waited for Luague outside the city-owned condominium where she was staying.

Oybenes waited for Luague, an employee of the Cebu City Hall’s Division for the Welfare of Urban Poor, to show up until the next morning.

Natu-el said that Oybenes even brought Luague’s eight-year-old son and her helper to a school near the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral Thursday morning.

Luague was also on board the vehicle at that time.

“Nahibulong man ang anak nga instead mo-straight ang sakyanan padung sa City Hall niliko man,” Natu-el said.

Police could not yet determine what triggered the killing of Luague and where she was killed.

“Kini si Oybenes possible hilig og hadlok-hadlok unya gihudlat si Luague sa armas unya nakablitan mao nahinaykan,” Natu-el theorized.

Oybenes was then allegedly ‘seen’ to have dumped Luague’s body   in a ravine in Barangay Cansumoroy, Balamban before midday on Thursday.

Luague sustained a gunshot wound to the chest when police recovered her body.

Hours later, Oybenes was found lifeless with a gunshot wound in the chest inside his Toyota Hilux in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City. Police found a caliber .45 pistol on his lap.

Crime was planned

Natu-el believed that the crime was planned as the logo of the City Hall and the red plate were taken out from the vehicle.

Natu-el further said that Luague received several threats through text messages from Oybenes.

But the city police director would not conclude whether it was Oybenes who killed Luague.

Police said are 90 percent in their assessment that Oybenes committed suicide inside his vehicle.

Natu-el said they based their assessment on the investigation of the homicide personnel who found gunpowder on Oybenes’ red shirt.

Natu-el, however, said they will only close the case once they receive the results of the paraffin test on Oybenes.

Autopsy result

Dr. Nestor Sator, medico-legal-officer of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory-7, told The FREEMAN that Luague and Oybenes had both fatal gunshots in the chest.

Autopsy result on Luague revealed that she was hit in the chest and the bullet headed down, hitting her spinal column where Sator recovered a .45 pistol bullet.

Luague was also shot in close range as gunpowder burns were seen around the wound, Sator said.

Oybenes was also hit in the chest and the bullet exited in his back.

But Sator said he could not confirm if Oybenes committed suicide pending the paraffin test result.

Candles and flowers

A day after her dead body was found in a ravine in Balamban town, the office desk of Luague was filled with lighted candles, flowers and pictures of her and children.

She had three children from her marriage with Noriel.

DWUP chief Collin Rosell said Luague was tasked with processing of socio-economic survey for socialized housing, interviewing burial assistance recipients as well as the Let There Be Light free-electrification program.

Rosell said she last saw Oybenes visiting Luague in their office on Tuesday.

Luague, a casual City Hall employee, transferred to the DWUP from the office of Councilor Jun Pe two years ago.

Her officemates said they did not have any idea if she had problems, describing her as a jolly person.

Rosell said before her death she was staying at the city-owned condominium but was building a house at a socialized housing site in Bulacao.

Meanwhile, the city-issued Toyota Hilux pickup used by Oybenes will be taken back by city government for repair and temporary custody.

General Services Office (GSO) chief Rolando Ardosa said once the police are done with their investigation, they will take the vehicle to repair damage and have it re-blessed.

Ardosa said he has yet to find out from Mayor Michael Rama as to who will take the vehicle.

The vehicle was one of those distributed by the Rama administration to barangay chief executives.

Relationship

Edna Adaptar, Luague’s older sister, confirmed to The FREEMAN that she knew about her sister’s relationship with Oybenes.

“They really had a relationship. Then they broke up eventually because they often quarreled,” she said in an interview yesterday.

Adaptar said that Oybenes texted her in the past, asking her to help him reconcile with Luague.

“He said he’ll do everything just so he can reconcile with Rohama,” she said,

Adaptar also revealed that after her sister’s breakup with Oybenes, the barangay captain had already been sending death threats to Luague through text messages.

“Oybenes had already been threatening Rohama that he will kill her and throw her in SRP,” she told The FREEMAN.

Adaptar said that Luague had her read a text message from Oybenes which said that if they don’t reconcile, they will die together.

She also recalled to The FREEMAN the moments when she last talked to her sister.

“She (Luague) told me to go to the City Hall to fetch her son and take him home with me to Lapu-Lapu after he finished taking his exams,” Adaptar said.

When she learned that her sister was with Oybenes, she started to worry, she added.

“I kept calling her, but her phone just kept on ringing and she did not answer,” Adaptar said.

She said it was her sister’s best friend who confirmed her death upon identifying her body in a funeral parlor in Balamban.

Adaptar, however, said that she has no plans of filing a case against Oybenes’ family and that she would not ask for any compensation from them.

“Oybenes and my sister are both dead. There’s nothing I can do about it,” she said. – With Jessa Chrisna Marie Agua and Raffy Cabristante /LPM