Labangon police probe brgy chief’s claim of 2 men firing guns outside his house

Police Major Janelito Marquez, Labangon Police Station chief said that they were investigating the two men, who was linked to the alleged firing of guns outside the house of the barangay captain of Buhisan, Cebu City on Saturday, April 30. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are investigating two men, who allegedly fired warning shots outside the house of the village chief of Barangay Buhisan in Cebu City on Saturday night, April 30, 2022.

Police Major Janelito Marquez, Labangon Police Station chief, said that they already knew the identities of the alleged perpetrators after Gremar Barete, Buhisan barangay captain, identified them as the persons responsible for allegedly firing their guns in the air outside his house.

“Wala na paulanig bala iyang balay. Based sa investigation, naa ray nagpabuto sa gawas sa iyang balay, dihas dalan. Mao ra. Wala giingon nga gipaulanan,” Marquez said.

(The house of the barangay captain was not strafed. Based on the investigation, there were just persons who fired warning shots outside the barangay captain’s house. That is all. There was no strafing incident that happened.)

“Naa nay suspect, duha kabuok. Taga diha ra pod sa ilaha. Amoa pa gipalawman ang investigation og unsa na katinuod,” he said.

(We already have two suspects. They are from that area. We are still digging deeper into the investigation and to verify if the allegations of the barangay captain were true.)

Barete is running for city councilor in the south district under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan team.

The Labangon Police chief said that Barete immediately reported the incident to the police station on Saturday night, April 30.

He said that Barete claimed that he and his family heard two gunshots, which he believed were warning shots, outside their house and a motorcycle or motorcycles leaving the area.

Barete, however, told Marquez that he was not sure how many individuals and motorcycles were there.

Marquez also said that they had not recovered empty slugs in the area as well.

He, however, said that they were getting statements from possible witnesses, who saw the alleged incident.

Marquez also said that he could not divulge any more details because of the ongoing investigation of the incident.

Barete told the media in an interview that the incident happened at past 10 p.m. of April 30 where they heard two gunshots fired outside their house.

Barete said he could not figure out the motive of the alleged perpetrators but he was not discounting the possibility that this was an election-related incident, considering that the election was just around the corner.

He also claimed that his neighbors had received text messages saying “Salig ka sa imong amo? (You are depending on your boss?)”.

Barete, however, could not fathom the reason for this.

He also said that he had yet to decide if he would need the assistance of the Cebu City Police Office.

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