San Fernando Councilor Alexander Alicaway. (Inset) Maria Victoria Alicaway (in eyeglasses), the wife of the slain councilor, waits with her daughter outside the morgue of St. Peter Funeral Homes in Carcar City at past 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14, 2018, as the remains of her husband were being prepared for his wake at the same funeral homes. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO AND CDN PHOTO
THE VICTIM: SAN FERNANDO COUNCILOR ALEXANDER ALICAWAY
A councilor of San Fernando town, 29.3 kilometers south of Cebu City, was shot dead by two men on board a motorcycle barely a hundred meters from the municipal hall at past 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
San Fernando Councilor Alexander Alicaway, who chairs the municipal council’s committee on environment, was on his way to the Sangguniang Bayan office when he was gunned down in Barangay South Poblacion.
Alicaway, who was casually dressed and was wearing a pair of slippers, bathed in his own blood due to a gunshot wound on his head.
Senior Insp. Adrian Nalua, chief of the San Fernando Police Station, said the councilor was rushed to the South General Hospital in the city of Naga, which is about eight kilometers from San Fernando, but the 49-year-old councilor did not make it to the hospital alive.
The incident happened barely 24 hours after a policeman in active service was killed in Minglanilla town, also in southern Cebu. (see separate story on page 2)
Nalua said their investigators were still looking into why Alicaway was killed, as the councilor had no criminal record, was not in the list of personalities involved in illegal activities, and had not reported any threat against his life.
“We have yet to talk to his family to establish the motive behind the killing,” said Nalua in an interview.
However, Nalua said he has spoken to Alicaway’s wife, Maria Victoria, and she said that her husband’s killing could be work-related.
Investigators were trying to secure footages of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras near the crime scene in the hope of identifying the gunman as well as the driver of the get-away motorcycle.
Faces concealed by helmets
Based on their investigation, Alicaway was walking towards the Sangguniang Bayan office when a motorcycle approached him. The back rider then disembarked from the motorcycle, got out the gun tucked in his waist, and fired at the victim twice.
The assailant, Nalua said, quickly boarded the motorcycle which sped towards the northern part of the town. Both suspects wore helmets that concealed their identities.
Police recovered empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol in the crime scene.
“We have to determine whether the suspects were from the municipality or maybe gun-for-hire,” Nalua said.
Primo Lara, a shoe repair worker, said he was working near the crime site when he heard two bursts of gunfire.
“Paglingi nako, naghigda na si konsehal (When I turned around, I saw our councilor lying on the ground),” he said.
Lara said they have not heard of any report that linked Alicaway to any illegal activity.
“Maayo man na siya nga konsehal (He was a good councilor),” he said.