RUMORS about his former lover’s romantic affair with a barangay captain might have led 40-year-old man to stab dead the village chief, wounding a bystander and taking two kids hostage in Barangay Hagnaya, San Remigio town, northern Cebu yesterday.
The suspect identified as Sitoy Sinangote,40, was also killed after he refused to surrender to the police.
PO1 Jeffrey Lequin of San Remigio Police told Cebu Daily News by phone that Sinangote waited for Hagnaya barangay captain Jose Jerry Cabahug to come to his brother’s store located in the area yesterday noon.
When Cabahug arrived, Sinangote suddenly stabbed him on his back and fell to the ground.
“Pag-una wa siya kaila kinsa ang nagdunggab kay nagtalikod man siya. Paglingi na niya didto na niya nailhan si Sinangote. Nagpakalooy pa siya aron ihunong sa suspect pero gitiwas siyag dunggab sa may dughan (At first he did not identify his attacker, but when he turned to his back he saw Sinangote. He pleaded for his life but Sinangote continued to stab him,” said Lequin.
Cabahug, who is a married man, was rumored to have an affair with his former live-in partner, Ruth Tillor, 53.
Cabahug was taken to the Bogo Provincial Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, the suspect who immediately left boarded a shuttle which was docked at the Hagnaya Port.
Sinangote later jumped into the sea as the policemen chased him. He swam towards Sitio Baha-Baha, a kilometer away from Hagnaya port, where police officers pursued him together with the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT).
When he reached Sitio Baha-Baha, Sinangote was able to get hold of a bolo which he used in hacking a bystander identified as Romulo Vargas. Vargas sustained a wound on his neck.
According to the residents, Sinangote was high on drugs when he went berserk. After that, he then held two siblings, an 11-year-old girl and her two-year-old younger brother, hostage.
The SWAT personnel shot the suspect dead after around five minutes of negotiation failed.
“We were afraid that he might hurt the two kids,” said Lequin.