Daanbantayan shooting update: Alleged links to drugs eyed in killing of man, minor 

Daanbantayan town is located at the northernmost tip of Cebu island.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy in Barangay Tinubdan, Daanbantayan town on August 2, 2023 is possibly a drug-related killing.

Police Captain Jan Christian Bautista, Daanbantayan Police chief, told CDN Digital in a phone interview that the deaths of the two individuals — Jerome Arriesgado, 33, and the 17-year-old boy — might be due to alleged drug-related activities of the two victims.

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Problem on alleged drug payment eyed

Bautista said that this was probably caused by the alleged problem of the two victims in the payment or remittance of illegal drugs.

“Basing sa ano, ma’am, sa conduct din ng investigation po ng ating personnel, possible po na drug-related po ‘yung ano natin, ‘yung cause. So parang nagka-problema yata sa ano sa remittance or sa pagbabayad dun sa drugs. Nagkainitan lang po Yung ano, pero yun palang naman po as per initial investigation po ma’am ” Bautista said.

(Basing on the investigation of our personnel, it is possible that the cause (of the killing) is drug-related. So it seems they had a problem on the remittance or in the payment of the drugs. There was some friction about that. But this is all as per our initial investigation.)

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How it Daanbantayan shooting happened

Initial investigation showed that while the victims were traveling on their motorcycle along the national highway from Medellin, Cebu, they were allegedly pursued by two assailants on another motorcycle.

The attackers reportedly continued chasing the victims along the highway, opened fire, and hit the victims before their motorcycle fell to the ground.

The assailants continued firing before they fled the area on their motorcycle.

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Shot in head, body

Both victims suffered gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of their body, according to the police in their report.

Meanwhile, Bautista also said in his report that the mother of the minor told police that she had repeatedly warned her son against hanging with Jerome, who was allegedly a bad influence on her son.

Bautista also said that a background check on Jerome showed that he had allegedly a record of drug cases and was allegedly implicated in an attempted murder case back in 2002.

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Previous record of drug cases

“Sa investigation lang din po ma’am, na na conduct ng mga personnel natin, marami na po siyang previous cases, may case na rin po siyang na related po sa drugs and yun po parang may kasama po niya is kwan din, parang same—same din po sila na may involvement po sa illegal drugs, ” he said.

(In our investigation that our personnel conducted, he has a lot of previous cases, he had a case related to drugs and his companion seems to have the same involvement in illegal drugs.)

He said that in their investigation they found out the alleged connection of the victim’s to illegal drugs.

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Probe, person of interest

Bautista said that the Daanbantayan police were still conducting an investigation and reviewing CCTV footage from the area.

However, Bautista said that they already had a person of interest in relation to the incident, but the involvement was still being verified.

He also said that the recovered firearms, ammunition and fired cartridges had already been submitted t the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistic examination.

Daanbantayan is a first-class municipality in the province of Cebu, which is located 128 kilometers north of Cebu City. | Mary Godinez, CTU Intern