One of the five Oyao brothers who were previously linked to illegal drugs in Lapu-Lapu City was shot dead last Saturday night in Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City.
Washington “Inday” Oyao, 64, was found with a gunshot wound in his chest inside his store in Sitio Malinao, Barangay Agus, at past 11 p.m. last Saturday.
Oyao was rushed to the Mactan Doctor’s Hospital, but doctors there declared him dead on arrival at past midnight yesterday.
Investigation
Initial investigation conducted by Homicide Section led by PO2 Dan Palacio Gacoscosim showed that a female neighbor of the victim found an unconscious Oyao inside his store at past 11 p.m.
The female neighbor returned home to get her husband and look for Oyao’s wife, Susan, who was in a neighbor’s house. They then went back to the store where they found the bloodied victim and rushed him to the hospital.
Gacoscosim said the female neighbor heard sound of an explosion at 9:45 p.m., but she ignored it thinking that it was just tire exploding.
Explosion heard
The explosion she described was believed to be the shots fired from a gun during the attack on the victim.
The neighbor told police that she then went to the store at past 11 p.m. and found the victim in a prone position inside the store and since he would not respond to her calls outside the store, she sought the help of her husband.
Oyao was found with gunshot wound in his right chest with the bullet exiting in his left arm. Police said that the victim also had another gunshot wound at the right side of the body with the bullet exiting to the left side of his back.
Police found no spent shells at the crime scene and believed that the assailant used a revolver.
Police also said that there were no witnesses to the crime.
Possible motives
Senior Insp. Alcon Escosura, former station commander of Marigondon Police Station, said they were looking into the possibility that other drug personalities might have killed the victim or someone with a personal grudge against the victim might have done the crime.
The brother of the victim, former Agus barangay captain Remegio “Bo” Oyao, however, said they were not yet certain who was responsible for killing their brother, but he was sure that “Inday Oyao” had long quit the illegal drug trade years ago.
“Ako gyud ang nagsige og hangyo anang akong mga igsuon nga moundang na gyud ana. Gani patrabahuon pa nako na sila sa akong negosyo, tagaan pa nako og kwarta para lang gyud moundang,” said Bo Oyao, who is a contractor and is engaged in the hauling business.
Brothers surrendered
Oyao was not only referring to Washington but also to his three other brothers with regard to their previous links to the illegal drug trade.
Last July, Bo Oyao accompanied three of his brothers — 59-year-old Rolando “Landie” Oyao, 57-year-old Paquito “Kipot” Oyao and 52-year-old Donie
“Danny” Oyao — to surrender to police.
Bo Oyao said he convinced them to surrender and clear their names since they were still in the police drug watch list.
Bo Oyao, himself, was indicted for being involved in illegal drugs, but the cases against him were later dismissed.
Aside from the brothers, a barangay councilor relative and 10 other persons joined the brothers in surrendering to the Lapu-Lapu City police.
But Washington did not join his brothers in surrendering to the police.
Escosura also said that the Oyao brothers have not been active in the illegal drug trade for some time.
“Wala na mi makuha og impormasyon kon aktibo pa ba gihapon sila sa illegal drug trade pero amo lang silang giapil sa Oplan Tokhang aron mosaad ug maglimpyo sa ilang mga pangalan (We no longer obtained information that they were still active in illegal drug trade, but we just included them in the Oplan Tokhang to promise and clear their names),” said Escosura.
Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, acting Lapu-Lapu City Police chief, said they no longer heard of the Oyaos’ involvement in the illegal drug trade
based on their monitoring and surveillance, but they did not know if the victim had other personal trouble or if other people had a grudge against him.
Cabagnot said that even without the Oyaos, the shabu supply in Lapu-Lapu City had remarkably dropped since their intensified operations against illegal drugs since July.
“Even the other crimes such as theft and robbery and crime against persons had dropped. Maybe, (this is) because most of these crimes certainly are drug related,” said Cabagnot.
Gacoscosim, for his part, said they were still investigating the killing to find out and identify the killer.
He said they were looking for any CCTV cameras in the neighborhood and would review the city’s CCTV cameras in the area for the possible identification of the killer or killers.