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CEBU CITY, Philippines — A mediation hearing over a noise complaint ended into an alleged shooting incident on Friday, October 2, 2020, in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City.
The Talisay City Police Station confirmed to reporters on Friday, October 2, that they received a shooting alarm involving Vince Santiago, 36, and a certain Bryan Montefalcon, 35.
Police Major Gerard Ace Pelare, Talisay City Police Station chief, said that the shooting allegedly happened after Santiago and Montefalcon allegedly grappled for possession of a handgun outside the barangay hall of Tabunok, Talisay City.
Pelare said that the two men argued after the mediation hearing outside the barangay hall which allegedly ended in a shot fired.
Both Santiago and Montefalcon denied to policemen about owning a handgun and instead accused each other as the ones who had a gun and pointed it to his enemy.
Pelare, however, said that they did not see or retrieve any handgun in the area or in the possession of both men.
In the initial investigation, Santiago, who is an employee of the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7), and his neighbor, Montefalcon, attended the mediation hearing at the Tabunok Barangay Hall over a noise complaint filed by Santiago’s mother against Montefalcon.
Apparently, the mediation hearing did not go well because both men ended up arguing outside the barangay hall after the hearing.
Santiago claimed that he challenged Montefalcon to a fistfight but instead the latter allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at Santiago.
Santiago claimed that the gun fired after they grappled for possession of the gun.
Montefalcon, for his part, denied Santiago’s claims and instead accused Santiago as the one who pointed a gun at him.
But responding policemen noted that there were no firearms recovered from the scene where the alleged disagreement happened.
“No firearms were recovered in the scene and both committed to undergo paraffin test. An investigation is ongoing and investigators are still on the crime scene to determine who between the two has probable cause to file a case,” investigators said.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the alleged shooting incident and both men were only invited for questioning at the police station and were later released.
Meanwhile, LTO-7 Director Victor Caindec, who confirmed that Santiago was an LTO-7 employee, said that he was just relieved that one of his employees was not hurt in the alleged shooting incident.
Caindec initially reported that Santiago formed part of LTO-7’s team tasked to investigate alleged anomalies involving motorcycle dealerships in Central Visayas./dbs