PERSONS OF INTEREST

Members of the Cebu City Police Office SWAT team arrive in full battle gear as they responded to the shooting of lawyer Jonnah John Ungab along S. Osmeña Road, Cebu City on Feb. 19, 2018. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

UNGAB AMBUSH-SLAY

The police may only have one witness so far.

But the investigation got a huge lift from footages of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras as police try to uncover the mystery behind the ambush-slay of Cebuano lawyer Jonnah John Ungab.

Senior Insp. Jonathan Taneo, spokesperson of Task Force Ungab, said they spotted two “persons of interest” who may have spied on and killed the lawyer, as shown on the footages of at least three CCTV cameras at the Qimonda IT Center, which houses Cebu City’s courthouses.

One footage showed a man who, while talking to someone on his cellular phone, walked closer to the Suzuki Kizashi car driven by Ungab while the latter stopped in front of the lobby of the Qimonda building before noon on Monday, February 19 to fetch his wife Pearl.

“It was as if he wanted to verify who was inside the car while also looking at the plate number in front of the vehicle,” said Taneo in a news conference at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on Thursday.

The man, who was also captured by another CCTV camera while he was inside the building, was believed to be the “spotter” or the one who monitored Ungab’s whereabouts while relaying it to the gunman who waited by the roadside outside the compound.

Coincidence?

Incidentally, the gunman, who was seen standing outside the gate of Qimonda IT Center, also communicated with another person through his cellphone as Ungab’s car passed by before he casually walked by the vehicle and fired twice at the driver’s seat where Ungab was.

“We reviewed the footages again and again, and we can say that the spotter at the lobby and the gunman outside the compound of Qimonda were using their phones from the time the victim fetched his wife at the lobby until the car passed near the gunman,” Taneo said in Cebuano.

From the parking lot of Qimonda IT Center, Ungab drove his car and fetched his wife who waited at the lobby before they went out of the compound together on board the vehicle.

Just about 20 meters away from the main gate of the Cebu City Hall of Justice, a masked assailant shot Ungab twice in the head.

Before the ambush, Ungab attended to three of the cases he handled, including that of self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr., who, last Monday, was found liable of violating the 2010 election gun ban.

No names yet

Taneo said they were doing their best to identify and trace the whereabouts of both the “spotter” and the gunman.

While the spotter’s face was clearly captured by the CCTV camera inside and outside the Qimonda IT Center, the physical features of the gunman was pixilated since he was a bit far from another CCTV camera.

“We continue to gather more evidence and information to get the backgrounds of these persons of interest,” Taneo said.

Investigators, he said, will browse through the security logbook of Qimonda IT Center hoping to get the name of the “spotter.”

Taneo said they were also going after the driver of the get-away motorcycle that the gunman boarded after shooting Ungab.

He said they could, however, not yet consider the driver of the motorcycle a “person of interest” since they still need to secure more footages to spot where he was stationed.

Accordingly, the assailant and the driver of the get-away motorcycle headed towards Mandaue City after the crime.

“At present, we do have obstacles in the course of investigating this case, but they are nonetheless manageable,” Taneo said.

“We’re currently focusing on the CCTV footages near the crime scene, and we will later review more footages from other areas to determine the direction of the suspects after killing the victim. We will do this step by step,” he added.

Sharing notes

So far, Taneo said they convinced one bystander who saw the actual shooting of Ungab to testify and help authorities in identifying the perpetrators.

“Right now, we’re giving the witness the time to remember what transpired. The witness is nonetheless cooperative,” he said.

Taneo begged off from giving more details about the witness and the testimonies while the investigation continues.

He said they were closely coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7), which is also conducting another probe on Ungab’s slay.

“We do share notes and other informations. If in case the NBI will be the first to identify the suspects, then they have to inform us about it. In the same manner, if in case the police will be the first to identify the suspects, we also ought to relay it to the NBI,” Taneo explained.

“We’re doing a full and impartial investigation here. We’re very careful because we’re not only doing this for the sake of moving forward the investigation. We do this to really get the real culprits,” he added.

‘Good Samaritans needed’

NBI-7 Director Patricio Bernales appealed to witnesses to come forward and help them in identifying the culprits.

“For now, I must say we do really have a hard time because we do not have any witness yet. I call on good Samaritans to help us. They could be bystanders who witness the killing of Attorney Ungab or those who may have captured the shooting through the dashboard cameras of their vehicles,” he said in a separate interview.

“Please come forward to the office and we assure you of your security,” he added.

Despite the impediments, Bernales said they will do their best to help Ungab’s family secure justice.

“We won’t definitely stop until the culprits will be brought to the bar of justice,” he said.

Both the NBI and the police were still waiting for the family of Ungab to turnover the cellphone of the slain lawyer to them.

“They have yet to formally entrust the cellphone to us although the NBI already went over its contents,” he said.

“So far, we were able to read one message which appeared to be a threat. It was sent to Attorney Ungab a week or two before the killing. Maybe, he didn’t give much attention to it. We don’t know yet if there are more threats sent to him,” he added.

While the NBI already saw the contents of Ungab’s cellular phone, the police have not even touched it yet.

“Naghinay-hinay ta og duol sa pamilya. Hopefully, mahatag nila ang cellphone aron makakuha ta og information nga makatabang sa investigation. (We’re slowly trying to reach out to the family. Hopefully, they will be able to turn over the cellphone to us so that we can get information that can help us in the investigation),” said Taneo who along with officials of the Cebu City police led by its director, Senior Supt. Joel Doria, held a case conference on the Ungab slay case yesterday.

Investigators are looking into three possible motives behind the killing of Ungab: politics, his job as a lawyer, and illegal drugs.

Grateful but too early to rejoice

Ungab’s nephew John Majeb, the designated spokesperson of the family, said they welcome the efforts of the police and the NBI in trying to identify the culprits.

“We’re very thankful for the participation of different law enforcement agencies and for showing interest in this case. We’re happy that as early as now, the police already have persons of interest although it’s too early to rejoice,” he told Cebu Daily News over the phone.

“Anyway, small progress is still progress. We’re thankful for the positive preliminary outcomes, and we’re optimistic that there will be more information about this case in the coming days,” he added.

Ungab’s body lies in state at the St. Peter’s Funeral Chapel in Cebu City. It will be transported to his hometown in Ronda, south Cebu on Saturday morning and will be buried the following day at their private mausoleum.