Firearm found in Malubog
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP-7) has identified the jail guard who owned the gun that was recovered near one of the five men who were killed in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City, last October 4.
Jail Chief Supt. Arnold Buenacosa, director of BJMP-7, on Tuesday said the firearm, the make and model of which the investigators refused to divulge, belonged to Jail Officer 2 Eran Marquita.
Marquita was one of the three jail officers who survived when a group of heavily armed men ambushed a BJMP van and killed three inmates in Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City, last July 20.
Buenacosa said it is possible that Marquita’s firearm was taken by the assailants during the ambush.
“The assailant reportedly poked a gun at him (Marquita) before taking his gun away,” he explained.
Of the three jail officers who were present during the ambush in Talisay City, Buenacosa said two of them lost their service firearms to the assailants.
The incident was reported by Buenacosa in an interview after the ambush.
With the recovery of one of the missing firearms, Buenacosa said it was possible that one of the victims in the Malubog killing was behind the ambush in Talisay City.
“Because of this new development, we might be able to solve this incident (Talisay City ambush) and be able to identify the mastermind,” he said.
Buenacosa said the BJMP-7 is coordinating with the Philippine National Police in the investigation.
Same shooter?
In a separate interview, Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said investigators also believed that one of the victims in Barangay Malubog was among those who ambushed and killed three inmates in Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City, three months ago.
“We will determine who were the companions of the suspect during the Talisay ambush,” he said.
Investigators declined to identify who among the five men killed in Malubog was near the recovered firearm while the investigation was going on.
The Malubog carnage happened at around 3 a.m. last October 4 in Sitio Kan-irag, Barangay Malubog, a mountain village which is 12 kilometers from Cebu City.
Among those killed gangland-style at the Transcentral Highway were Lester Abella, Orlando Tayor, Carl Cabahug, Diover Van Sanjorjo, and Christopher Tangag.
Two persons survived the incident — Antonio Ruiz Belande, a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver, and Sharmaine Poran.
Belande said he was able to elude death when he rolled himself down a ravine and hid among the trees until daybreak, after which he sought help from village officers.
Poran, on the other hand, said she was among the persons taken into custody by men she described as pulis (policemen) and was able to escape as the men she claimed to be policemen began killing the men she was with.
Poran, assisted by the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7), sought and was given refuge at the Cebu Archdiocese.
Belande, on the other hand, opted to go home and recanted his earlier claim that policemen were involved in the killing.