Barangay councilor denies killing cousin: Why would I ask forgiveness when I’m the one they had done wrong

Photo courtesy of CIDG

“How could I ask forgiveness when I did nothing wrong, and I am the one that they had done wrong.”

This was what Barangay Councilor Reynante Bacarisas of Barangay Babag, Cebu City said when asked if he would ask forgiveness for the death of his cousin, Jorge Ibona.

Bacarisas said this as he denied allegations that he was the one who killed his 40-year-old cousin last September 30.

“Unsaon man nako pagpangayo og pasaylo nga ako man gani ilang gibuhatan og ingon ani unya ako na nuon mangayog pasaylo?,” said the Babag barangay councilor.

(How can I ask forgiveness when I am the one that they had done wrong then I am the one who would ask for forgiveness?)

Bacarisas also denied the allegations of Jenny Fe Ibona, the wife of the victim.

Jenny claimed that she allegedly clearly saw Bacarisas’s uncovered face when he allegedly shot dead her husband and when the latter fled after the attack.

But Bacarisas said that he was not at their barangay when the shooting incident happened at past 3 a.m. of September 30.

“Niadto ko’g Ayala, unya nagkuha ko sa akong order sa Carbon so adtong orasa wala ko didto,” he said.

(I went to Ayala and then I took my order in Carbon so at that time I was not there.)

But Jenny said that it was natural for the suspect to deny the allegations.

“Natural man gyud nga mo deny siya nga di siya pero ako wa gyud ko’y laing gikakoan nga gikapasangil kay wa gyud laing kontra akong bana. Siya gyud mismo akong nakita,” said Jenny.

(It is but natural for him to deny that it was not him but I don’t have any other person to point my finger to because my husband has no other enemy. I also saw him.)

The suspect was arrested at Ayala Heights, Barangay Pung-ol, Cebu City at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, October 1, in a joint follow-up operation conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Cebu City, Mabolo Police, and City Mobile Force Company (CMFC)

Jenny said her husband died on the spot after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.

She also claimed that the trouble between her and her husband and the suspect allegedly started in a misunderstanding between her and the suspect.

Jenny, who is a healthcare worker, claimed that the misunderstanding between her and Bacarisas started when she refused to do what he wanted her to do — to allegedly be his eyes and ears against someone, whom Bacarisas had allegedly been at odds in the barangay.

Jenny claimed that she told her husband about this, who later allegedly confronted Bacarisas, and that was what started their misunderstanding.

She also claimed that they had filed a frustrated murder case against Bacarisas on June 17, 2017 for the latter allegedly trying to shoot Jorge Ibona  in an incident that year.

Jenny also claimed that Bacarisas allegedly tried to settle the frustrated murder case with them and allegedly offered P50,000 for the settlement.

She said they turned the offer down and told him that everything should be done in the proper forum.

Jenny also claimed that prior to their last hearing of the frustrated murder case against Bacarisas last September 23 this year, they allegedly had received several death threats and sometimes, would allegedly notice somebody tailing them.

As for turning down Bacarisas settlement offer, Jenny also said that the latter did not even ask forgiveness for what he had done to her husband when he tried to allegedly attack him in 2017.

But Barangay Councilor Bacarisas said that he had not done any wrong to ask forgiveness to them.

“Mao nay pinakabug-at nga pasangil nga murag sa akong nakita ubos ra kaayo ilang pagtan-aw nako grabe ang ilang mga pasangil nako,” said Baricasas when told that the refusal of the family to settle things out was the reason behind the killing.

(That is what hurt me the most and that they are looking down on me and their allegations against me are really the worse.)

“Sa tinuod lang sa ilang gibuhat sakit kaayo sa akoang side ug sa akong pamilya nga ilang giingon ani nga wa ko kahibawo sa maong panghitabo,” the councilor added.

(In truth, what they did to me hurt me and my family that they did this to me without my knowing what really happened.)

Meanwhile, Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said they would be filing a case of murder against the suspect, whose firearm that he allegedly ‘used’ in the killing was nowhere to be found.

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