A family member has identified the two men whose bodies were left at the u-turn slot of the viaduct of the Cebu South Coastal Road past midnight today, July 24. /CDND File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – A family member has identified the two bullet-riddled bodies that were found at the u-turn slot of the viaduct of the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) in Cebu City shortly after midnight today, July 24.
The victims were Rodrigo Abella Jr., 48, and his nephew, Charlie Abella Parba, 40. Both are residents of Sitio Manga in Barangay Tisa.
Consolacion Parba, Abella’s sister and the mother of Charlie, identified the two bodies after she saw these when she visited a funeral parlor along Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Cebu City, where these were kept.
Police Master Sergeant Nicolo Gonzales of the Mambaling Police Station said that Charlie was earlier jailed for drugs use and peddling and was released from detention only in March.
At least three men with suspected drug links were already killed in Cebu City in the last four days.
On Sunday, a drug user was also killed while buying drinking water from a roadside bakery in Barangay Luz.
Read More: ‘Drug user’ from Barangay Luz shot dead
Parba said she last saw Charlie at 12 p.m. on Tuesday and Abella at 3 p.m. of the same day. She could not think of any reason why the two were killed.
Abella works as a taxi driver while her son was unemployed, Parba said in an interview with CDN Digital.
Read More: Two men found dead with gunshot wounds at SRP
She knew of their death after she show a video aired on the CDN Digital Facebook page on the discovery of the two bodies at the CDCR viaduct u-turn slot past midnight today. She also noticed that the bodies were wearing the same T-shirts that Abella and Charlie wore when she last saw them.
Gonzales said they continue to look for witnesses that will help them identify the killers of the two men. They are also looking for Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in the area that may lead them to the whereabouts of their killers.
He suspects that the two were killed on the same area where they bodies were also found because of the presence of bullet slugs there.
A tanod from Barangay Mambaling said that motorcycle riding men reported to barangay tanods the presence of the two bodies at the u-turn slot of the CSRC viaduct. They saw the bodies when they responded to the area and immediately called for police assistance. /dcb