Cops working to identify Binaliw shooting victim

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The man who was shot dead in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City around dawn on Thursday, May 30, has remained  unidentified and Talamban police are coordinating with nearby sitios hoping to identify the victim.

Police Captain Jonathan Taneo, Talamban Police Station chief, said in a phone interview with CDN Digital, that they were doing this since no one in Sitio Binaliw 2, Barangay Binaliw could identify the victim who was shot dead by an unidentified assailant at around 3 a.m.

Taneo said that what the residents heard were just gunshots at about the time of the victim was killed.

He said that initial investigation showed that the man was shot five times in the body leading to his death

Two slugs and an empty shell of a .45 caliber pistol were found at the crime scene. 

Read more: Families claiming bodies of victims burned to death in Tuburan have to wait for DNA results

This is the second incident where a dead victim has been unidentified. The other incident happened in Tuburan town in northern Cebu where two partially burned unidentified bodies were found in a secluded area in Barangay Putat of that town on Tuesday, May 28.

Two families have since identified the bodies, but they have to wait for the results of the DNA tests on them and the victims’ bodies to prove that these bodies were really their missing relatives.

Read more: Families, cops wait for DNA test results to identify bodies found in Tuburan

Staff Sergeant Joseph Grande, desk officer, said in a phone interview with CDN Digital on Thursday, May 30, that the victim was blindfolded with a piece of black cloth when his body was found.

Grande also described the victim as a middle-aged man, who was wearing a white shirt with Manila Bay print and a pair of short pants with multicolored stripes.

Grande also said that the victim was also wearing braces.

Meanwhile, Taneo said that they were coordinating with the neighboring sitios to help them to identify the body.

But if no one can still identify the victim, Taneo said that they would expand their coordination to the nearby barangays to check if somebody had gone missing in these areas.

“Ato tan-awon kay basin dayo ni siya. Gidala lang diri para pusilon. (We will see if he is a from another place and brought to Binaliw to be killed),” said Taneo.

He also said that he was hoping that the victim could be identified so that they the motive of the killing could be established, and we could make progress on the investigation of the victim’s death.

Taneo also said that if anyone would like to check and help identify the victim, they could visit  and coordinate with the Talamban Police Station.

The body of the victim was brought to the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel along A.S. Fortuna St. in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City./dbs