4th family member killed: Daughter of slain ex-village chief of Bohol shot dead inside home in Cebu City

Vicenta Abaño, the daughter of a slain former Bohol village chief, is shot dead inside her home in Barangay Suba, Cebu City, past 12 a.m. of Nov. 29, 2019. | Photo from the San Nicolas Police Station

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The case of the 40-year-old woman who was shot dead inside her home at Block 3 Missionaries, Barangay Suba, Cebu City at around 12:30 a.m. Friday, November 29, 2019, is not one that maybe solved immediately.

This is because Vicenta Abaño, the victim, is not the first in her family to have been killed in such a manner.

Personal grudge  against her family stands out a possible motive, as she is the fourth member of her family who met a violent death in a span of five months, according to Police Corporal Carlo Irizari.

Her father, Alejandro Abaño, former captain of Barangay Jagoliao, an island-village of Getafe, Bohol, and a relative, were the first and the second victims. Her younger brother, Ninolito Abaño, was the third.

Irizari, investigator of the case from the San Nicolas Police Station, said Vicenta just came home when two men were seen following her.

One of the men went inside Vicenta’s home shortly after she headed in. Two gunshots were immediately heard by the residents in the area. 

Vicenta, who was said to be alone at that time and had long been separated from her live-in partner, was later found lifeless lying on her bed with gunshot wounds on her neck and right arm.

Irizari  revealed that the description of the incident by some witnesses was similar to that of what happened to her other family members.

Her father and relative were shot by two men who barged into their home in Barangay Jagoliao at around 4 a.m. last June 28.

The same execution-style killing also befell on her younger brother who was shot by two assailants inside his auto repair shop in Barangay Pahina San Nicolas, Cebu City last July 19.

Read more: Son of slain Bohol village chief shot dead in Barangay Pahina San Nicolas

Irizari stressed that while the evidences on hand were not yet conclusive, there was a high possibility that the previous killings were related to the death of Vicenta. 

However, he said, their investigation has been hampered by the absence of witnesses willing to testify as to what exactly happened to Vicenta and her other slain family members.

Police were also looking into the killing as drug-related because of the claim of some neighbors of Vicenta that she was allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, revealed Irizari.

As for now, Irizari said they were looking for closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the area that might have caught the suspects tailing the victim while she was heading home before the incident./elb