Crime group carried out the Ungab ambush-slay, NBI-7 suspects

Judging by the manner with which the crime was executed, investigators believed an organized crime group carried out the brazen killing of lawyer and Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab on February 19.

Director Patricio Bernales of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) said it appeared in their probe that different individuals played separate roles to make sure Ungab would not be able to return home alive.

He noted there were at least four persons involved in the ambush and killing of Ungab: the two alleged “spotters” who spied on Ungab at the Cebu City Hall of Justice, the gunman, and the driver of the getaway motorcycle.

“The killing was done by an organized group,” he said in a media interview on Tuesday.

Bernales, however, was tight-lipped about updates of the case in order not to compromise the investigation.

Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), agreed with Bernales.

In a separate interview, Quenery said the killing of Ungab was planned and executed well.

“This could be the handiwork of an organized crime syndicate,” Quenery likewise opined.

The police and the NBI are conducting separate investigations into the ambush-slay of Ungab.

Like the NBI, Quenery said the police, at the moment, have difficulties in identifying the culprits due to the unavailability of witnesses.

So far, the police found one bystander who claimed to have seen the actual shooting of Ungab. However, the lone witness was reluctant to execute an affidavit due to fear that the killers might get back at him. And even if he would agree to testify, the witness could not identify the assailant since he was wearing a facemask when he shot Ungab twice in the head.

“Sa ngayon, medyo mahirap. Wala pa kasing identities ang ating mga persons of interest at wala pa talagang witnesses. (For now, it’s a bit hard. We don’t have the identities of these persons of interest and we don’t have witnesses),” Quenery said in a separate interview.

He appealed to those who have knowledge about the crime to come forward and help the police and the NBI in identifying the persons who are behind the ambush-slay of Ungab.

“In the absence of witnesses, we cannot really progress. That is why we continue to appeal to well-meaning citizens, especially witnesses, to come out and help us in the investigation,” the region’s top police official said.

Photos of the one of the “spotters” were released to the media last week, hoping to get information from the public about the identity of one they consider a “person of interest.”

The Cebu City police’s Task Force Ungab secured footage of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras that showed a man who came near Ungab’s car and checked who was inside the vehicle as well as its plate number as the lawyer fetched his wife Pearl at the lobby of the Cebu City Hall of Justice last February 19.

The “spotter” was seen talking to someone on his cellular phone shortly before Ungab’s car left the compound of the courthouse.

Incidentally, the gunman, who was seen standing outside the gate of the Cebu City Hall of Justice, also communicated with another person through his cellular phone as Ungab’s car passed by before he casually walked by the vehicle and fired twice at the driver’s seat where Ungab was.

The police also found another possible “spotter” who seemed to be monitoring Ungab inside the Regional Trial Court Branch 23 where the 2010 gun ban violation case of his client, self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr, was being promulgated.

The second suspected “spotter” was captured on the cellular phone video that was randomly taken by Ungab’s wife Pearl a few hours before the victim was killed.

“The NBI and the police are helping hand in hand to solve this case. Unfortunately, things are not going our way for now. It’s just so hard to get witnesses,” Quenery said.