STUCK in evening traffic in Mandaue City, lawyer Briccio Joseph Boholst relaxed in the backseat , unaware that in minutes, the car seats would be covered in blood.
He was reading a magazine before he dozed off.
“Haya-haya ah, basa-basa ra man,” said his law partner Amelie Alegre, who was driving.
An officemate Antonio “Tanya” Pinto was beside her in the passenger seat.
Gunshots broke the calm when the car was just a few meters away from Boholst’s house in barangay Looc, Mandaue City where he was about to be dropped off.
Boholst, 52, later recalled feeling numbness in his left leg, and hearing Alegre utter “Ayay, patay ko.” (Oh no, I’m dead).”
Boholst was declared out of danger in the UC Medical Center in Mandaue City where he and Pinto are recuperating from wounds of Thursday night’s road ambush.
Family members accompany him in the private room, which is secured by policemen. Some fellow lawyers were allowed to visit.
“I’m still in a state of shock. Until now, I can’t express any emotion,” he told Cebu Daily News while sitting up in his hospital bed yesterday.
“I’m thankful I survived. I feel physical pain but it’s overpowered by the fact that my law partner is gone,” he added.
Boholst and Amelie were partners at the Boholst, Herrera, Ocañada and Remedio Law firm since 2013.
The former Mandaue City Attorney recalled moving in a daze.
“I think I went out of the car, went inside the driver’s seat and engaged the hand break to stop the vehicle from moving. And then I went out again, got into the front seat and held Am-am’s face,” he said.
“I kept calling her name ‘Am, Am,’ but she was no longer responding,” he said.
He called out to their officemate Pinto for help, but found out that he, too, had been shot.
Residents in the area immediately guided the two survivors to a nearby carenderia.
“I thought there was still a threat because people were urging us to go inside the carenderia. I was torn between staying with Am-am or going inside,” said Boholst.
Although he could barely walk, Boholst decided to enter the eatery, fearing that the assailants would come back to finish them off.
Police have started investigating the shooting which appeared to target the driver of the BMW sedan owned by the lady lawyer.
Boholst said he didn’t see the features of the assailants.
Hitching a ride home that day with Amelie was a typical arrangement when either of them were not bringing their cars to work.
“I didn’t bring my car with me because I let my sister who arrived from the U.S. use it,” he said.
Amelie, 35, was on her way home to a condominium in Ayala Tower II at Cebu Business Park.
Since their law office is in barangay Tipolo, Mandaue city she was dropping off Boholst at his residence in barangay Looc first.
DEATH THREATS
Boholst, who is happily married, said he was privy to the strained relationship between Amelie and her husband Ryan. Since the couple separated in 2008, Boholst said Amelie had received several death threats from Ryan.
“But I could not believe violence like this would happen over issues that are relatively small. That’s hard to accept,” he said.
“What could be more precious than life? Nothing.” Boholst served as Mandaue City Administrator in the first term of Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and was president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Cebu City chapter from 2007 to 2009.