3 men face murder charges for Valentine’s Day killing of habal-habal driver from Compostela town
The body of Jose Ursal III of Sitio Balibali, Barangay Poblacion in Compostela town was found in a vacant lot in Barangay Tamiao of the same town on Saturday, February 15, 2020. | Photo Courtesy of Compostela Police
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Murder charges will be filed on Monday, February 17, 2020, against three men accused of killing a motorcycle-for-hire driver from Compostela town in northern Cebu.
Police Senior Master Sergeant Julius Tradio of the Compostela Police Station said that witnesses identified Mark Ian Duran, 25; John Kenneth Dayon, 21; and Joy Prince Calo, 26, as the persons who stabbed Jose Ursal III, 19, to death.
Tradio said that the four men are distant relatives. Ursal is from Sitio Balibali in Barangay Poblacion while Duran and Dayon are from Barangay Cabadiangan in Compostela town. Calo is from Sitio Dowal in Barangay Poblacion in the neighboring Carmen town.
He said that Duran and Dayon were arrested while at the public market in Barangay Tamiano at around 6 a.m. on Saturday while Calo was arrested in his home in Carmen town a few hours later.
Tradio said that it was Calo who invited Ursal to drink liquor with them in a roadside store in Barangay Tamiao in Compostela town at around 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, to celebrate his birthday.
Witnesses in the area saw the four drinking liquor before they started to argue. Calo had allegedly accused Ursal of stealing a fighting cock which he owned.
Tradio said that the three men dragged Ursal to a grassy lot located about a hundred meters away from the roadside store. He said that it was Calo who first stabbed Ursal, hitting him on the different parts of the body. Calo later asked Duran and Dayon to also do the same.
Marlyn Ursal, the victim’s mother, appeared at the police station Saturday dawn to report the stabbing incident. It was then that the police started to search for Ursal’s body which they found in a grassy area in Barangay Tamiao. Ursal’s hands were tied on his back while he was lying with his face on the ground when found.
Tradio said that the suspects had refused to speak during the police investigation. They are now detained at the Compostela Police Station’s detention facility while police prepare murder complaints that will be filed against them on Monday. / dcb
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