A Holy Week assassination in Cebu!

Last Thursday, Manong Max Soliven titled his column, "Terrorism doesn’t take a holiday — so watch out!" Alas, Manong Max’s warning came a day too late for a dear friend of mine, Elpidio "Jojo" de la Victoria, head of Cebu City’s Bantay Dagat Commission and market administrator who had been involved in the campaign to save the Visayan Sea from overfishing with the group called the Visayan Seas Squadron, headed by another good friend, environmental activist-lawyer Antonio Oposa.

At around 3 p.m. last Wednesday, a lone gunman waited for Jojo in his residence in San Roque, Talisay City and when he arrived, the gunman fired caliber .45 pistol bullets three times into Jojo, hitting him in the arm, thigh and in the back, ripping vital organs in his stomach. He was rushed to the Chong Hua Hospital by his only son, Vince.

When I learned about the shooting, I immediately went to the hospital late in the afternoon… when there was a frantic appeal for blood as he was still bleeding profusely. Though he was conscious throughout the ordeal and the operation to save him, he passed away at 7:40 a.m. on Holy Thursday. God took away someone who was always full of love for Jesus.

We met Jojo regularly for the weekly meetings of the Market Committee where he was the administrator and whenever we asked him to open the meeting with a prayer, as if on cue, and without hesitation, he immediately started a prayer in Cebuano. He was never far from the Lord, being a faithful coordinator of Couples for Christ. An angry Mayor Tomas Osmeña immediately offered a P200,000 cash reward to anyone who would lead investigators to the killer.

The assassination of Jojo de la Victoria was timed by those who wanted him dead… knowing that everything, including the media, shuts down operations for the Holy Week. Hence, the headlines of Cebu’s local dailies were that he survived the attempt on his life. But when he expired on Holy Thursday, the news about his death could only be revealed to the public on Easter Sunday when local newspapers resumed publication.

Adding more pain to the sorrow that his wife Baby and son Vince had to undergo… I learned that the authorities could not release his body until it was autopsied (although the cause of his death was already known) and since there was not a single medico-legal officer available in Cebu last Thursday, the family was told that they would have to wait until Monday and only then could the autopsy be done — and only then could the family mourn for him.

When I heard of this, I texted our good friend, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Region 7 director Rey Esmeralda, who is now at the NBI headquarters. He called me to express his dismay that the medico-legal officers in Cebu had taken their Lenten holiday. Esmeralda probably did a roll call of all the medico-legal officers available and he found one in Dr. Gil C. Macato, who was supposed to be transferred to Tacloban City, but this transfer was not acted on… hence the fellow was on a sort of floating status. Director Esmeralda immediately asked him to go to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor to do the autopsy with the family’s permission and by early evening of Holy Thursday, the autopsy was done and De la Victoria’s body was released to his grieving family and friends.

After our traditional Visita Iglesia, I went to the Cosmo Nivel Hills to pay my last respects to a good friend and got first-hand information on how he was shot. Let me share with you that it is a difficult struggle within you… to pray for the soul of a close friend who was just murdered, while at the same time, inside you, you are seething in anger over his loss… more so that as Christians we are taught to forgive and even love our enemies. But we accept God’s will and only pray that justice will be granted to the family of Jojo de la Victoria.

So far, we know that the police in Talisay City and Cebu City are coordinating in the search for his killer. Director Esmeralda, too, has ordered the NBI to do the same. Let us hope they’ll find the killer soon. Meanwhile, Atty. Tony Oposa and Atty. Golly Ramos of the Visayan Seas Squadron vowed to declare war against those who violate our fishing laws. Best of all, he has already assembled a team of crack lawyers to help prosecute this case when the killer is found. If he had his way, Oposa would turn the Visayan Sea into an underwater park!

It is not difficult to analyze who could be responsible for the killing of Jojo de la Victoria. In his capacity as Cebu City market administrator, we never heard any negative reports about him. In my recollection, he is the second high official of Cebu City Hall to fall into the hands of a killer. The first time happened more than 10 years ago to Eddie Jabonero who was then the executive director of the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management (CITOM). A jeepney driver shot Eddie as he was about to be arrested for a traffic violation. What the commonality here is, the killers do not want our laws to be enforced on them.

Jojo’s other important position was being the head of the Bantay Dagat Commission that protects our seas from illegal or dynamite fishing along the shores of the Island of Cebu. But how many illegal fishers have been caught and had a grudge with him? We don’t know.

But lately, when the Visayan Seas Squadron insisted on the ban on commercial fishing in the Visayan Sea, De la Victoria got death threats, so too with lawyer Antonio Oposa. This environmental group wants to implement a zone 15 kilometers from the shore to stop commercial fishing boats from overfishing the Visayan Sea, which has virtually taken away the livelihood of marginalized fishermen. That’s why Jojo went out of his way to help the poor marginalized fishermen who for many times end up with no catch after a whole night’s fishing, thanks to big fishing trawlers.

I talked to Atty. Tony Oposa who suspected that De la Victoria’s killing was meant to send a warning to his group that they would never allow these environmentalists to stop their commercial fishing activities. Like what we’ve said, Atty. Oposa also has his share of death threats. But as we learn from an old saying, "For evil to flourish, it is enough that good men do nothing!" Indeed, commercial fishing within the Philippine archipelago has deprived the small fisherman of his daily catch. The greatest threat commercial fishing trawlers pose is that their nets destroy the corals, where the fish live and reproduce. We ask, did Jojo de la Victoria have to die in vain? We hope that his death will bring a new ray of hope to save our seas!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.