2 Cebu Customs men shot dead

CEBU CITY — The Cebu deputy collector for operations and an examiner of the Bureau of Customs were killed in an ambush just a stone’s throw away from the regional police headquarters at Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. Thursday night.

Stray bullets fatally hit a 16-year-old high school senior, Allen Dave Ravena, and critically wounded a jeepney driver, Nestor Ancajas, police said.

Cebu Customs deputy collector for operations Eduardo Lao and examiner Bennet Sereno were on their way home on board Lao’s blue Isuzu Trooper when two motorcycle-riding men fired at them as they stopped for a red light at the corner of Osmeña Boulevard and R. Landon street.

The attackers, armed with an Ingram machine pistol and a caliber .45 pistol, apparently emptied their magazines on the two Customs officers before fleeing.

Lao was hit at least 15 times in the head and body, while Sereno sustained at least 10 gunshot wounds.

Ravena, a badminton player vying for a slot in Cebu’s delegation to the next Palarong Pambansa, was buying some hotcakes after his classes just across the street when a stray bullet hit him in the forehead.

Lao’s driver, Samuel Dijan, who miraculously escaped being hit by a bullet but was slightly injured by broken pieces of glass, immediately sped away to Chong Hua Hospital just about a kilometer away but doctors there failed to save the life of the two Customs officers.

Bystanders took Ravena to the Cebu City Medical Center also about a kilometer away but he similarly failed to survive his head wound.

At the time of the incident, regional police officials were hosting Philippine National Police deputy director general for administration Edgardo Aglipay in an anti-drug conference at the nearby police camp. The sound of gunfire interrupted their meeting.

Two camp guards were the first to get to the scene but failed to get a glimpse of the attackers.

Lao, 42, a Cebu native, had just been promoted two months ago to his present position after serving as Customs examiner at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. He joined the Customs service in 1986 as an examiner.

He had once been implicated with Cebu businessmen Peter and Wellington Lim, whose names in a supposed drug list sparked a congressional inquiry. The Lims were eventually cleared after the hearings.

Sereno, 52, is a native of Dipolog City.

Lao’s wife Johanna and father Consolador both suspect that his recent promotion may have something to do with the ambush-slaying but they did not go into specifics.

Johanna said her husband had never received a death threat in his life. They have two sons aged 12 and 17. — Freeman News Service