EX-COUNCILOR SHOT DEAD

Emil Go

Another killing in Metro Cebu

A former councilor of Talisay City was gunned down inside his family compound yesterday, in yet another of the series of high-profile killings that have occurred in Cebu since February.

Emilio “Emil” Go was inside his fighting cock farm located beside his residence at Mansueto Village in Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City, when he was shot dead by a still unknown assailant at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Go, one of the first councilors to be elected into office when Talisay became a city in 2001, succumbed to a gunshot wound on his head, said Supt. Marlu Conag, acting chief of the Talisay City Police Station, in an interview.

The 67-year-old victim was rushed to the Talisay City District Hospital but did not make it alive.

Based on the investigation, Go was seated on a chair while drinking coffee and talking to a friend identified as Arturo Navaes when two vehicles — a dark blue Pajero and a red car —arrived.

A witness told investigators that the assailant alighted from one of the vehicles and called Go’s name.

Upon hearing his name, the victim turned his head towards the assailant who immediately fired at him.

Conag said Go had a gun tucked on his waist but was not able to use it.

Investigators have yet to identify the perpetrators and the motive behind the killing.

“We will consider all the possible motives although there is a possibility that the killing was likely caused by personal grudge,” Conag said.

Go was the 41st person to be killed by unknown assailants in separate incidents in Metro Cebu since February 17.

Not a single case has been resolved so far.

Go served as councilor of Talisay City from 2001 to 2007 under the group of Gabriel Leyson who ran and lost to Socrates Fernandez in the mayoralty race in Talisay City in 2007.

In May 2013, Go was shot and wounded on the neck after a retired policeman, SPO3 Ulysses Desamparado, shot him and another person during a cockfighting dispute in Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City.

A police report of that incident showed that Desamparado’s brother picked a fight with spectators at a cockfight arena.

Go reportedly noticed the squabble and tried to pacify the parties when Desamparado shot him. The retired policeman surrendered to the police after he shot Go and another civilian.

In March 2017, Go’s son, Frederick, a former councilman of Barangay Bulacao, Talisay City, was arrested together with a policeman, and two other persons in a drug raid in Barangay Tabunok.

Police said they received reports that Frederick’s group was involved in the illegal drugs trade — an allegation which the suspects denied.

No cause for alarm

Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, the director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), had said the spate of killings should not alarm the public since there were no links to connect them to each other.

He said investigators could not see a pattern in the killings and that “each case has its own uniqueness.”

Most of these recent murders, he said, were caused by personal grudges.

Among the cases that remain unresolved were the ambush-slay of lawyer and Ronda town Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab, who was ambushed in broad daylight on February 19 just outside the Cebu City Hall of Justice at the North Reclamation Area, Cebu City and shot twice in the head by a masked assailant before the lawyer’s horrified wife Pearl;

Korean businessman Shang Ho Lee, who was shot dead by an unidentified assailant along A.S. Fortuna St., Banilad, Mandaue City, in the evening of February 23; SPO1 Ben Serjihos, who was killed in Barangay Punta Princesa in Cebu City on March 11;

PO2 Rome Bolaño, a police officer assigned in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police national headquarters in Quezon City, who was shot dead in an ambush by unidentified assailants on March 13 in Barangay Lipata, Minglanilla town, southern Cebu; and San Fernando town Councilor Alexander Alicaway, who was shot dead by two men on board a motorcycle near the municipal hall on March 14.

Go was the latest casualty in the series of killings in Metro Cebu, most of which were perpetrated by masked men on board motorcycles.
Of these series of killings, only one survived: Jail Insp. Edwin Sarcon.

Sarcon, an officer of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, was driving his car along the corner of R. Duterte Street and V. Rama Avenue in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, when assailants on board a motorcycle fired shots at him.

His neck was grazed by a bullet but he managed to run to safety.