Police asset, wife murdered in Tangke, Talisay

Bloodstains on a makeshift tent where a couple was shot dead by an unknown assailant at Sitio Tunga, Barangay Tangke, Talisay City Wednesday night. (CDN PHOTO/ MIGUEL ERMAC)

A Talisay City worker and his  wife were shot dead by an unknown assailant while they were sleeping inside their makeshift tent along a vending area in Sitio Tunga, Tangke Talisay on Wednesday evening.

The victims were identified as Jose Abesia, 38, a garbage collector employed by the city government of Talisay, and Derlyn Abesia 35, a fish vendor,  both residents of Sitio Tungka.

Police were still determining if the killings were drug related but the male victim was reported to be a police asset, according to SPO1 Erwin Carbonguillo of the Talisay City Police Office.

Carbonquillo said some of their investigators had described the male Abesia as a “confidential informant” but he has yet to confirm if the victim was actively helping the police fight crimes in his village at the time of his death.

What was definite, he said, was that the Abesia spouses were not involved in illegal drug activities since they were not in the police list of drug suspects operating in Barangay Tangke.

The Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) team recovered seven empty slugs at the crime scene, he said.

According to the couple’s neighbors, they heard seven gunshots rang out sometime between 11 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, amid heavy rain and strong winds.

The neighbors, who asked not to be identified,  said they only knew about the twin murders when the couple’s daughter, a high school student, came to ask for her allowance on Thursday morning and instead found her parents bathed in their own blood.

The male Abesia had gunshot wound on his forehead, the neighbors said.

Minsi Garcia, 30 and sister of Derlyn, said they had no idea who would do such crime as the couple had no known enemy in the area.