CEBU, Philippines - A fraternity member was gunned down by two men in Barangay Lamac, Consolacion, Cebu while attending the wake of his grandfather Friday dawn.
Orland Evangelista, 26, reportedly a member of the Alpha Kappa Rho (Akhro) fraternity, suffered gunshot wounds to the chin and neck and did not make it alive to the Visayas Community Medical Center in Cebu City.
The police said Evangelista, a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver, was talking with a friend an seated on a motorcycle parked in front of a chapel where the wake of his grandfather was being held when two men on a motorcycle arrived around 1:30 am.
The men, who were wearing bonnets to conceal their faces, then shot Evangelista four times before speeding away.
Barangay tanods rushed the victim to the hospital but he died along the way.
Responding policemen recovered from the crime scene four cartridges of a caliber .45 pistol.
PO3 Arthur Ariate of Consolacion Police Station said they are still following up leads as to the motive behind the attack.
He said they are also checking if the incident is related to the victim’s affiliation with Akrho, whose members have tangled several times, causing several deaths, with a rival fraternity in the past.
In neighboring Compostela town, a 15-year-old resident of Danao City was wounded when a man shot him past midnight Friday while he was walking with a neighbor in Barangay Magay.
The police said the victim was with Mark Anthony Cainila when a certain Rommel Montero, alias Pulgas, of Paknaan, Mandaue City shot them, hitting the minor in the buttocks.
Despite his wound, the minor and Cainila managed to run, but the suspect allegedly gave chase and tried shooting at them again. Montero’s caliber .38 revolver jammed, giving them the chance to flee.
The police are still establishing the motive behind the attack.
In Cebu City, 21-year-old Aldwin Jim, a first year Customs student, is now fighting for his life after he was fired upon while on his way to buy liquor in Barangay Guadalupe yesterday dawn.
The Cebu City Police Office Homicide Section said Jim was driving a motorcycle and traversing Duterte St. around 2 am when a man on the roadside fired at him as he passed by.
The identity of the man, who was apparently waiting for Jim, is still being established as of press time.
Neighbors rushed Jim, who suffered two gunshot wounds in the face, to Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.
Responding Mobile Patrol Group policemen tried but failed to locate the fleeing assailant.
SPO1 Geoffrey Gutual of the Homicide Section said they would check the victim’s background and his possible affiliation with any fraternity to help determine the motive behind the incident.
Hours before the attack on Jim, in the southern City of Carcar, a public school teacher Edgardo Morano, 52, was likewise shot by two men on a motorcycle in Barangay Poblacion III.
Morano, a teacher of Upland Elementary School in Poblacion I, was standing in front of a chapel in P. Nellas St. at 3:30 am, when the back-rider of a passing motorcycle fired at him, hitting his left shoulder.
SPO1 Jurame Tanodtanod of Carcar City Police Station said the victim was supposedly headed for home after buying bread from a nearby store, which he has been doing every day.
“Na-pattern na siya sa suspek na kada-kadlawon, mupalit g’yud na siya og pan diha. (The attackers knew he goes there to buy bread each dawn),†said Tanodtanod.
After shooting Morano, the two mean sped off towards interior portion of P. Nellas St. while the victim was brought by a habal-habal driver to Carcar City District Hospital and was later transferred to a Cebu City hospital.
Tanodtanod said they are eyeing grudge as the possible motive behind the attack.
“Naa na siya’y nakalalis na silingan before sa panghitabo. (The victim argued with a neighbor before the attack),†he said. —/RHM (FREEMAN)