Police find second ‘spotter’ in Ungab ambush

John Daniel is the second son of the Ungabs and not their eldest son as what was published on the caption of the page 1 photo in February 26, 2018 issue of the paper. The caption should have read … with their second son, John Daniel, hugging tightly his father’s coffin draped in the Philippine flag. We apologize for the mix-up.

A week after the ambush-slay of lawyer Jonnah John Ungab, police investigators found yet another suspected “spotter” who spied on the victim at the Cebu City Hall of Justice.

Senior Insp. Jonathan Taneo, spokesperson of the Task Force Ungab, said they spotted a suspicious-looking man who seemed to be monitoring Ungab inside the Regional Trial Court Branch 23 where the lawyer’s client, self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr, was found guilty of violating the 2010 election gun ban.

The second suspected “spotter,” he said, was captured on the phone video that was randomly taken by Ungab’s wife Pearl a few hours before the victim was gunned down outside the courthouse last February 19.

“We already have a copy of the phone video although we’re still reviewing it. We already established that there seemed to be a first spotter and we’re not discounting the possibility that there was another one,” said Taneo in an interview on Monday.

Last week, Task Force Ungab released photos of the first alleged “spotter” whose movements were captured by the closed-circuit television camera inside and outside the Cebu City Hall of Justice.

As Ungab fetched Pearl at the building’s lobby, the first “spotter” was seen trying to verify who drove the lawyer’s car while looking at the vehicle’s plate number.

The “spotter,” who was considered a “person of interest” by the police was talking to someone on his cellular phone when he approached Ungab’s car.

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.

Taneo said they already received some information about the identity of the first “spotter” as relayed by concerned individuals who contacted the police’s hotline number.

All reports, he said, however still have to be validated.

“We will filter out all the information and verify their veracity,” Taneo said.

While the police does its best to solve the crime, Taneo said it would help them if reward money will be dangled for anyone who could lead to the identification and arrest of the culprits.

Ungab’s brother on Sunday urged the Ronda town council to raise P500,000 as reward money for possible tipsters.

Ronda town Mayor Mariano Blanco III, however, expressed concerns about it, saying it may be disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA).

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which is also conducting a probe on Ungab’s slay, also continued to go over CCTV footage and interview possible witnesses, hoping to get some leads.

“So far, we do not have any witness yet,” said NBI-7 Director Patricio Bernales.