Mandaue police still clueless on motive in strafing of Franklyn Ong’s Chevrolet showroom

Police continue to look for the white van used by lone gunman who peppered bullets on the Chevrolet Mandaue City showroom owned by Cebu City Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Franklyn Ong./CDND File Photo

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines —Police investigators in Mandaue City are looking for additional closed circuit television (CCTV) footage that will help them establish the origin and the destination of the white van that carried the lone gunman who peppered bullets on the Chevrolet showroom owned by businessman Franklyn Ong.

They are also looking for additional witnesses that will guide them to the possible location of the suspect and his cohorts, said Police Major Mercy Villaro, information officer of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO).

Villaro said that as of today, May 6, they remain clueless on the motive of the attack and the identity of the persons responsible for strafing the Chevrolet showroom owned by Cebu City Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Franklyn Ong at dawn on Saturday.

Read more: Persons in white van attack Osmeña ally’s car showroom

“We are requesting pa nga makipag communicate nato ang mga representative sa company para sad pod sa mga possibilities if si Mr. Franklyn Ong if naa ba siyay mga threats sa iyang life nga pwede nato ma-link sa strafing,” Villaro said in an interview on Monday, May 6.

(We already made a request for Mr. Franklyn Ong or any company representative to coordinate with us so that we will be able to look into all the possibilities including a possible threat on his life.)

Police Major Aldrin Villacampa, chief of the Mandaue City Police Station 1 that has jurisdiction of Barangay Ibabao where Ong’s showroom is located, said they do not discount the possibility that the showroom strafing was related to the strafing of the residences of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) allies located in the mountain barangays of Cebu City.

Read more: Cops looking for link between Mandaue and Cebu City strafing incidents

Based on CCTV recordings from Ong’s showroom, a man on board a white van peppered bullets at the showroom past 1 a..m. on Saturday, May 4. Another man, who was onboard a motorcycle, was also seen tailing the van.

The van did not have any license plate which makes if difficult for the police to trace its registration.

Villaro said that police found 11 bullet holes on the glass walls of Ong’s showroom but they only recovered one empty shell from a .45 caliber pistol in the area. She said there is possibility that the other empty shells may have remained inside the white van where the suspect was.

“Since ang unang nakuha nato is ang CCTV sa showroom, we will try kung makakuha pa ta kung diin gagikan ug asa ang direksyon after sa incident. So possibly ari ta makakuha sa command center kay para makita nato kung asa gyud,” Villaro said.

(We only have in our possession the CCTV footage coming from (Ong’s) showroom, but we are still looking for other possible recordings that will help us establish where the suspects came from and where they were headed for. We may also be able to secure footage  from the command center’s  CCTV recordings that will be useful in our investigation.) /dcb