Vice Mayor Labella urges NBI to investigate strafing

CEBU City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 to conduct a separate investigation on the strafing incident involving Inayawan Barangay Captain Lotlot Ignacio-Soon, a candidate for Cebu City councilor.

Last Monday morning, an unknown gunman strafed Soon’s family-owned pharmacy, Farmacia Ignacio, in Barangay Tejero.

It was the second strafing incident involving Soon. The first incident happened last Friday when unknown gunmen strafed a Barangay Inayawan-owned multicab parked in front of the barangay hall.

In Labella’s letter to NBI 7 Director Ricardo Diaz, he said “the attacks may be politically motivated” and are seen as an “act of desperation with the goal of intimidating” Soon and her family.

Labella also said in his letter that the NBI investigation is to “ensure a clean, fair, open, and honest election free from violence, threat, and intimidation.”

Meanwhile, Lotlot’s husband John contacted someone, whom he did not name, from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to find the owner of the SUV with the plate number YHN613, which was allegedly used by the suspects in the strafing incident.

“Naa koy amigo sa LTO, akong gipa-search, ang ni-appear sa name daw (I have a friend in LTO and asked him to search the plate number, and the name that appeared was) Brazilio E. Borinaga,” he said.

John said results of a Google search showed that a certain Brazilio Borinaga is a Cebu City policeman.

He also showed reporters the text message he received from the sibling of his brother-in-law, which resembles the format of LTO’s SMS services text that allows people to access information about a vehicle by texting its plate number.

The text message showed details about the vehicle, describing it as a white 2010 Hyundai Tucson Theta II which was registered last April 8, 2016 with no LTO apprehension and alarm.

Soon said the SUV that witnesses saw during the incident matched their search results with LTO.

“Ang katong nagsakay sa sakyanan, posible gisugo to siya, kay murag nag-check ra man siya sa sitwasyon (It’s possible that the one driving the SUV was instructed to check the situation),” she said.

Lotlot also expressed concern over BO-PK founder and former mayor Tomas Osmeña’s statement about the incident, in which he said, “That is drama ni Rama.”

Lotlot questioned how Osmeña could think that the incident was staged, especially because her sister’s family lived near the pharmacy with only glass and plywood to separate the pharmacy from her sister’s home.

She added that if her sister’s Toyota Fortuner, which was also hit, was not parked in front of the pharmacy, her sister and her family could have been hit.

Soon also called Osmeña “irresponsible” for his comment. “I dare him…ipadakop to, ang kanang tawhana nga responsable ana, dili kay mag-mention siya nga drama-drama lang (Find the person responsible for the strafing, don’t say that this is just drama),” she said.

Soon and her husband suspect that the incident might be connected to politics. John said that it was the first time in their family to be involved in a strafing incident.