Lapu-Lapu City police are looking for the driver of a tricycle abandoned at the site of the ambush against Basak, Lapu-Lapu Barangay Captain Isabelito Darnayla.
Witnesses saw a man standing, as if waiting for somebody, at the corner of St. Agustin and General Aviation Road in Lapu-Lapu City on Saturday evening. The same man was seen talking to the driver of a tricycle, with license plate number GC 77178 and a sticker with Arabic text.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza yesterday ordered city police chief Senior Supt. Arnel Amor Libed to give priority to the case.
“Si Kap. Belong seryoso gyud kaayo sa iyang serbisyo diha sa iyang barangay ug vocal gyud na siya nianang mga badlongon sa iyang barangay,” said Radaza. (Kap Belong passionately serves his barangay and is very vocal against bad elements.)
Darnayla was shot and wounded in an ambush on Saturday. He is in stable condition and closely guarded by police and barangay tanods (watchmen) at the Mactan Doctors Hospital.
Radaza told police to look at all possible angles to determine the real motive of the ambush.
As of yesterday, police were still trying to identify the suspects based on information provided by Darnayla. A team went to a Muslim community in Barangay Pajac yesterday, but could not locate the owner of the abandoned tricycle.
Darnayla was driving his black Ford pick up and was taking a left turn at corner St. Agustin and General Aviation Road at 7:50 p.m. on Saturday when a man crossed the street and fired shots at him.
Darnayla sustained three gunshot wounds: two on his back and one on his left arm. The left side of his vehicle has several bullet holes.
He was able to return fire, prompting the shooter to flee on board a black motorcycle toward Barangay Pajac. Witnesses saw another motorcycle, which was earlier seen tailing Darnayla’s vehicle, going against the traffic flow on St. Agustin St. toward Barangay Pajac.
Darnayla, despite his injuries, was able to drive toward Mactan Doctors Hospital while calling for help through his handheld radio.
Celso Ricaplaza, 24, said he saw Darnayla’s vehicle running in a zigzag after hearing gunshots.
Darnayla was a vocal critic of the Radazas for about 11 years before he allied with them in January 2013.
He was once charged by former mayor Arturo Radaza for sedition, but the case was dismissed in 2006. He also engaged in a word war with Mayor Radaza last year over garbage collection complaints.
In May last year, Barangay Captain Jovencio Lauron of Agus was killed in an ambush while vacationing in Getafe, Bohol.
Lauron was allied with the Radazas but he lost to Remegio Oyao, a critic of the Radazas, in the 2010 barangay elections.
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