‘Friend’ kills three

CEBU, Philippines - Three people died while a teenager was injured after a man who believed that he was either ensorcelled or gradually poisoned to death and that his condition could no longer be helped shot them in Sitio Lawud, Barangay Buot, Cebu City Monday night.

Gerardo “Larry” Tangayan, 46; and brothers Jeffrey Cabucayan, 23, and Jerome Cabucayan, 19, died after they suffered gunshot wounds in different parts of their body. 

 A bullet also grazed the stomach of Rejel, Tangayan’s 16-year-old daughter. Suspect Renato Cabradilla, who fled on foot after the shooting incident, turned himself in 12 hours later.

Cabradilla told reporters that he was not thinking straight when he committed the crime, allegedly because of his mysterious illness.  He said quack doctors told him that he may have been a victim of barang (sorcery), laygay (gradual poisoning), or gipatakdan (infected).

“Niabot na gani ko’g Sta. Rosa (in Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu City)) aron magpatambal,” he said, referring to a place locally known for the healing of mystical ailments.

Senior Police Officer 4 Rey Cuyos, Cebu City Police Homicide Section investigator, said that the suspect was walking with his friends Jeffrey and Jerome when he suddenly pulled out a handgun and fired at them from behind.

Initial investigation revealed that Rejel was studying for a scholarship examination when she noticed their dogs barking past 7 p.m.

She looked outside to see if someone was around and saw the suspect walking with his friends. Moments later, she heard a burst of gunfire. Fearing for her life, she ran towards her aunt’s house to seek refuge.

Jeffrey was later found with a gunshot wound to the back while Jerome suffered a bullet wound to the head.

Cuyos said they are still puzzled why the suspect killed Jeffrey and Jerome because the brothers were his caroling mates.

“Nagkuyog man ni silang tulo unya gikalit lang niya og pusil,” Cuyos said.

Larry and Rejel’s younger brothers were watching television when she came frantically knocking on their door because Cabradilla allegedly saw her run and also attempted to shoot her with his .38 revolver, which luckily misfired.

Larry opened the door and tried to block the pursuing Cabradilla from entering but got overpowered and shot in the chest and head, causing his instantaneous death.

Less than 12 hours after the incident, Cabradilla told responding Cebu City Public Safety Company policemen that he would go down from a coconut tree and surrender only with the presence of the media.

He first hid in a mining pit approximately 200 meters from the crime scene before climbing a camansi tree and then transferring to the coconut tree.

The police, though, reasoned with the suspect that the media could not come to their place as it was located in the mountains, so he climbed down and surrendered.

He told reporters that he also killed Tangayan because he heard the victim and Rejel’s mother say that he (Cabradilla) was already healed of his ailment when in fact he even grew thin.

Cabradilla, Jeffrey and Jerome had gone to Maslog, Danao City several weeks back during a fiesta celebration, where they took the food offered by one of the families they sang Christmas carols to.

The suspect alleged he became ill after the three of them ate the rice and chicken given to them, later suspecting that the food had poison.

“Pagkahuman nila og kaon, naglain na daw iyang lawas ug nisuka na siya. Sukad ato, nagsige na og lain iyang lawas. Bangog daw iyang ulo, labad, mura daw siya motuwad, wa na siya’y kusog,” narrated Carina Dajuya, 28, Cabradilla’s live-in partner.

Local Cebuano folklore speaks of poison masters who deliver slow-working poison on unsuspecting guests through proffered food or drink. These people would then be able to heal the poor victim, who would surely become ill, because they have the antidote, in the process earning substantial sum from the grateful victim.

Talks persist that such practice is still very much alive in Opon, or what is now Lapu-Lapu City, which explains why Cabradilla went to Sta. Rosa for supposed healing. 

It was Thursday last week when Cabradilla left his house to work and to have himself treated, returning home only last Monday, when he decided to kill his two friends and then Tangayan.

 Cabradilla  told his wife to take good care of their children and if she could not rear them well he requested that she turn them over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Cabradilla and Dajuya has seven children, with the youngest turning a month old tomorrow, February 5.

Dajuya said she did not know that her partner has a gun and had planned to kill his three victims.

“Wa man sila nag-away. Pero niingon siya nausab na daw ang tinagdan ni Larry maong nagduda siya,” she said on why Tangayan was also killed.

She said it was Jeffrey who allegedly accepted the food in Maslog.

Dajuya said Cabradilla had repeatedly expressed worry over his condition and even showed hopelessness by saying he would soon die. She said she even advised him to see a doctor but he refused.

In an interview, Cabradilla said he shot Jeffrey and Jerome because it seemed to him they were healed already while he was not, so thought he might as well kill them before he dies.

Cabradilla said he started not feeling and thinking well after eating the food in Maslog, so he tried seeing different quack doctors to heal him.

Some of those quack doctors, he said, told him that he might have been a victim of “barang, laygay, o gipatakdan.”

Cabradilla, who showed no remorse over what he did, was subjected to a paraffin test yesterday to establish that he indeed fired a gun recently to support the filing of attempted murder and three counts of murder against him.

Isidora Bayais, Tangayan’s eldest sister who witnessed the incident, said  the victim saved his children from being shot by the suspect.

“Si Larry (Tangayan) maoy niangkon. Iyang giduphan aron iyang mga bata di maigo. Gitubos niya ang kamatayon sa iyang mga bata. Luoy kaayo si Larry,” Bayais said.

Despite her injury, Rejel was able to take yesterday the scholarship examination she was studying for. She wants to take up industrial engineering at the Cebu  Technological University.

Meanwhile, at the City Hall, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said he wants strict monitoring of illegal firearms and vigilance on the part of the police following the killing in Buot.

He also requested faster resolution of cases so justice could be swiftly served.

“We have a very slow dispensation of justice,” he said, adding that slow or non-resolution of cases are “not a good deterrent” in the commission of a crime.—/RHM (FREEMAN)