Police: ‘Personal grudge’ leads to Larrazabal-Garcia abduction
Dr. Julian Iñaki Larrazabal-Garcia is being led into a waiting ambulance by responding relatives and policemen after he sent a message on Facebook to his brother saying that he was in Carcar City. Witnesses claim that the 26-year-old doctor was thrown off a speeding white van some three hours after he was snatched near the Cebu Doctors University Hospital in Cebu City.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
An old personal grudge may have caused Saturday’s abduction of 26-year-old Dr. Julian Iñaki Larrazabal-Garcia, a scion of the prominent Larrazabal family of both Cebu and Ormoc.
A day after Garcia was snatched in broad daylight by four men and then set free about three hours later, police ruled out kidnapping for ransom as the abductors’ possible motive yesterday.
The incident was also neither a ploy by terrorists, said deputy mayor on police matters and Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak.
Dr. Garcia, a post graduate intern (PGI) of the Cebu Doctors University Hospital (CDUH) and a grandson of CDUH owner, Don Potenciano Larrazabal, was snatched by four unidentified men, wearing bonnets, near the hospital’s Medical Arts Building along F. Ramos Extension just outside CDUH.
“Grudge to but wala sad intent to kill the victim (It was a grudge with no intent to kill the victim),” Tumulak said.
After going on a 24-hour duty at the hospital last Saturday, Garcia was about to board his vehicle in a private parking lot at around 7:45 a.m. when four men forced him to board a white Toyota Hiace van parked next to him.
He was later found in a hilly portion of Barangay Poblacion I, Carcar City, with bruises, abrasions and wounds on his head, face, body and knees nearly three hours after he was taken.
Angles
Tumulak said that police are now looking into many angles of the case but are more inclined to believe that all possible motives were “personal”.
According to the deputy mayor, the incident may have something to do with Dr. Garcia’s work or the businesses of his family who are also into farming in Ormoc City.
“Galibog pa sad and police. Wala pa’y klaro ang statement sa victim (The police are still confused because the victim has not issued a clear statement yet),” Tumulak said.
Garcia was picked up by an ambulance in Carcar after he was found in that southern city and brought home in Cebu City to rest.
Tumulak
Tumulak added that even the victim’s family was confused about the possible motive as the young doctor was known to be a good man.
The abductors also did not send the family any demand for ransom.
Tumulak said that the family, however, was not ruling out the possibility that the kidnapping was done by an “enemy in business”.
A probe conducted by Cebu City Police Station 2 also led government operatives to believe that jealousy may have also been a motive based on Garcia’s initial talk with members of the police unit who responded to Saturday’s kidnapping alarm.
“Palawman pa ang investigation (We have to conduct a deeper investigation),” said Supt. Cheryl Boniao, head of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Police Community Relations (PCR).
CCPO is giving Dr. Garcia time to recover from his trauma before they will probe more into the incident.
“As of now, gitagaan natog time ang victim. Ilahang reason under state of fear, trauma pa ang victim. Nihangyo sila nga papahuwayon sa (We are giving the victim time. The family’s reason is the victim is under a state of fear and traumatized. They appealed to allow him to rest) then they will cooperate through their lawyers,” Tumulak said.
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