Lawyer Jonah John Ungab
THE gunman in the ambush-slay of lawyer and Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab of Ronda town, southwest Cebu may already be dead, according to a
police official.
Supt. Ryan Devaras, chief of the Cebu City Investigation and Detective Management Branch, said that based on the results of a ballistic exam, the .45 caliber pistol recovered from the slain “gun-for-hire,” matched the slugs that killed Ungab.
“We could say that he (Ungab assailant) could be dead already because the result of the cross matching said so,” Devaras told Cebu Daily News.
He said the police would still go after the other perpetrators who pulled the daring ambush done in broad daylight.
Next week, the Cebu City police will file murder charges against at least three other persons who allegedly took part in the slay of Ungab.
They declined to provide names pending filing of charges.
“This a good sign that we are moving in the investigation,” Devaras said.
Ungab’s nephew Jed, who was designated as family spokesperson, begged off from issuing any statement on Friday, saying he had yet to confer with the slain lawyer’s wife, Pearl.
In an earlier interview, Jed expressed hopes that the person killed in a police operation in Lapu-Lapu City last February 22 was not the same gunman who killed Ungab, saying they were “not out for blood but we’re bent on seeking justice within the legally permissible means.”
Ungab was driving his car along the Port Service Road in front of the Cebu City Hall of Justice before noon on Feb. 19 when an assailant shot him twice in the head.
His wife Pearl, who was seated beside him, was unharmed.
Police investigators believed three other persons — the driver of the get-away motorcycle and two spotters who spied on Ungab while the latter was inside the courthouse — were involved in the killing.
Three days later, a man was killed by the police in an operation in Lapu-Lapu.
Reports later surfaced that the victim was involved in the Ungab slay.
Investigators declined to name the man but news reports identified him as Dante Betaganzo who was also accused of killing a policeman in Bohol.
Betaganzo was killed when he allegedly resisted arrest and tried to shoot it out with the police who were about to serve a warrant of arrest for robbery against him.
The police recovered a .45 caliber pistol from the suspect which was submitted to the Regional Crime Laboratory in Central Visayas for ballistic examination to determine if it would match the slugs collected from where Ungab was killed.
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