FAREWELL TO JOHN

A HUG, A TEARFUL GOODBYE. Pearl Ungab, the widow of Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab, and their children are overtaken by grief as they give the slain lawyer a final goodbye, with their second son, John Daniel, hugging tightly his father’s coffin draped in the Philippine flag. CDN PHOTOS/TONEE DESPOJO

His favorite superhero was Batman.

This explained why some friends and relatives of slain laywer and Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab had the logo of the superhero on the back of the black shirts that they wore as they laid him to rest at his hometown on Sunday afternoon.

In a town in mourning over the death of one of its favorite sons, the cry for justice and the demand to know the truth behind his gruesome death was evident, specially among the about 8,000 people, including members of the Ungab family, who attended the lawyer’s Requiem Mass and funeral procession from the town’s parish church, the Our Lady of Sorrows Church, to his final resting place at the family’s mausoleum adjacent to the Ronda Public Cemetery.

Their cry, coincidentally, resonated with the famous lines that Batman uttered in “Batman, the Dark Knight,” when he said: “Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”

The same lines likewise struck a chord with the plea of Jonald Ungab, the older brother of Jonnah, who urged the municipal government of Ronda, a fifth-class municipality located 88 kilometers southwest of Cebu City, to grant P500,000 to anyone who can provide information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

“To the witnesses, I ask them to speak up so the case will be solved. I would also like to appeal the municipal government to appropriate P500,000 as reward to anyone who can provide leads,” said Jonald during his eulogy at the Requiem Mass.

But Ronda Mayor Mariano Blanco III, speaking to reporters following the Mass, said that they would first consult the Commission on Audit (COA) if they would be allowed to release a bounty: “This is government funds. We have to ask COA about this. If the family decides to contribute, I’ll have to wait.”

More than 2,000 individuals attended the Requiem Mass inside the Our Lady of Sorrow Church, according to SPO4 Roger Incipido, deputy chief of the Ronda Police Station.

When the hearse carrying Ungab’s casket started to make its way to the lawyer’s final resting place, Incipido said that the crowd ballooned to 8,000.
“There were 6,000 who joined the procession. So we have a total of over 8,000 individuals present,” said Incipido.

He added that most of those who stood beside the road, waiting for the casket to pass by, contributed to the increase in the figures.

Incipido also said that Ronda town was generally peaceful, and that no untoward incidents occurred since Saturday when Ungab’s remains arrived from Cebu City.

At least 8,000 Rondahanons attend Ungab’s burial at his hometown on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

Justice

Before Ungab’s coffin was placed inside the tomb, Rondahanons chanted “justice, justice, justice” from the church up to the cemetery, as their means to express condemnation on the “untimely and horrific” death of their vice mayor.

They wore shirts, either in black or white, with the statements “JUSTICE FOR ATTY. UNGAB” printed on the front and “WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND WILL BE MISSING YOU FOREVER” and a logo of DC Comics’ superhero Batman on the back.

John Majed Ungab, a nephew of Ungab, told Cebu Daily News that Batman was his uncle’s favorite superhero.

Meanwhile, some family members wore black armbands to express their condemnation.

Blanco, who also happened to be Ungab’s uncle, was also present during the Requiem Mass and the burial of Ungab.

But he said that he decided to keep a “safe and polite” distance between him and the latter’s immediate relatives such as Jonald.

It can be recalled that Jonald floated politics as a possible motive in the killing of his brother, citing a suspension order which he said is set to be implemented against Blanco next month due to an anti-graft case filed against the mayor before the Sandiganbayan.

But Blanco has reiterated yesterday that he has no reason to kill Ungab, adding that the lawyer was a close political ally and his running mate in past elections.

“I treat him as my second-son … he (Jonald) is just saying that to get back at me for losing the mayoralty race last elections,” he added, referring to Jonald’s failed mayoral bid to unseat him in 2016.

Ungab was Blanco’s running mate for the mayoral race in Ronda town during the May 2016 National Elections, under the Liberal Party.
Jonald, on the other hand, ran against Blanco under the Garcia-led One-Cebu Party but he lost to Blanco by a margin of 1,780 votes.

Eulogies

On the other hand, Ungab was praised as a kind and selfless lawyer, friend, public official, father, and husband by his family and friends.

His wife, Pearl, said that the sight of a full-packed church comforted her amid grief surrounding their family.

However, she also revealed that she began to notice a slight change of behavior in her husband days before the tragedy occurred.

“He arrived from the airport from Manila when we had our recent date. He was still wearing a suit. He was so happy … he was very different. He was very quiet. He was so worried about the death threat,” said Pearl.

Ungab’s best friend, Peter John Noval, and his sister, Aljean Ungab-Torregosa, gave eulogies that spoke of disbelief that he was gone.

Fr. Roland Angel Anthony Torres, the officiating priest, meanwhile, urged everyone not only to pray for the eternal repose of Ungab’s soul but also for the enlightenment of the perpetrators that they may come to repent the crime they had committed.

Ungab was killed by a masked shooter shortly before noon on Monday, Feb. 19, just outside of the Cebu City Hall of Justice along S. Osmeña Road, just a couple of hours after he attended the promulgation of the cases filed against a high profile client, self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr.

On Friday, Feb. 23, the Cebu City Police Office released the screen shots of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showing the alleged “spotter” who spied on Ungab at the Qimonda IT Center, which houses Cebu City’s courthouses.

The supposed “spotter” was captured on video while talking to someone on his cellular phone as he came near the Suzuki Kizashi car of Ungab when the latter was driving when he picked up his wife Pearl at the lobby of Qimonda IT Center.

In another footage, the gunman, who was seen standing outside the gate of Qimonda IT Center, also communicated with another person through his cellphone as Ungab’s car passed by before he casually walked by the vehicle and fired twice at the driver’s seat where Ungab was.

More photos here