Archival, aides killed in ambush

Atty. Noel Archival

A prominent criminal lawyer who mostly handled drug cases and defended some policemen facing charges was killed in an ambush yesterday afternoon in Dalaguete town in southern Cebu.

Noel Archival, his driver and a security aide, were killed after unidentified gunmen on board two Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up trucks intercepted the Ford Escape SUV they were riding and sprayed them with gunfire.

Archival, who was on the backseat, was killed instantly after he was hit in the head as well as different parts of the body. His bodyguard, Candido Edu Miñoza, who was seated in the front passenger seat was also killed on the spot.

The third fatality, Alejandro Jayme, who was driving the lawyer’s SUV, was pronounced dead at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City where he was taken together with Paulo Cortes.

Cortes, 53, who is also one of Archival’s bodyguards, was hit in the left arm and is scheduled to undergo surgery, said hospital spokesman Nonoy Mongaya. Jayme, 47 sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the body.

The assailants fled towards the direction of Cebu City, police said.

Police said Archival’s group was on the way to Cebu City at around 1:30 p.m. after arriving from Dumaguete City via the ferry port in Santander town.

Judge Cresencio Tan Jr., presiding judge of the Dumaguete City Regional Trial Court Branch 38 told Cebu Daily News that Archival appeared in the sala of Judge Cenon Voltaire Repollo yesterday morning. Archival’s client, Jesulou Alegria, was accused of robbing a pawnshop in Dumaguete City.

Senior Insp. Rico Emperwa, chief of police of Dalaguete town, said Archival was returning to his home in barangay Talamban to prepare for another court hearing in Camiguin which was set today.

Kibitzers crowd around the star-crossed SUV of lawyer Noel Archival along the national highway in Dalaguete, Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

‘Sandwiched’

Police quoting witnesses said a red pick-up truck with a license plate that bore the numbers 195 was cruising ahead of Archival’s group and stopped in the middle of the road prompting the lawyer’s driver to also hit the brakes. A black pick-up truck, which had been tailing them, blocked them from behind.

“Gi-sandwich sa duha ka sakyanan ang gisakyan sa mga biktima,” Emperwa told reporters. (They were sandwiched by the two vehicles.)

Gunmen armed with automatic rifles alighted from the trucks and fired at the victims. Investigators found 31 bullet holes in Archival’s vehicle.

Police found a 9mm pistol on the driver’s side of the SUV, but it was not immediately known if Archival’s group were able to return fire.

Forensic technicians recovered seven spent M16 shells and two deformed slugs from the crime scene.

Archival’s body and that of his bodyguard, Miñoza, were recovered from the SUV at past 6pm.

Police forensic technicians search for clues from the Ford Escape SUV of lawyer Noel Archival (left) who was killed in an ambush along the national highway of Dalaguete town in southern Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival said he was not aware of any threats to his younger brother. He said his brother would not usually confide work-related matters, but he presumes that the lawyer had threats considering the controversies that involved his clients. Among the lawyer’s infamous clients was former Dinagat Island Rep. Reuben Ecleo Jr. who was convicted of parricide and remains at large.

“I think naa gyod na pero wa lang siya mag-estorya nako”, he said.

Nestor said Noel was able to send a text message to his wife at around 1 p.m., saying that they were okay. They were supposed to arrive in Cebu City at 3 or 4 p.m.

The councilor said his brother did not pack a gun despite moving around with some aides.

“Wa gyod na siyay armas. Naa na siyay mga kuyog para iyang masugo-sugo,” Nestor said.

(He doesn’t have a gun. He is only accompanied by aides who just assist him or run errands for him.)

Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, chief of police of Cebu, has created a special task force to investigate Archival’s killing and run after the perpetrators. Gillamac himself will head the task force.