ILOILO City – Demand for justice intensifies and more are calling for a prompt probe into the string of murder incidents in the province of Iloilo.
The province recorded five murder cases in just six days from Sept. 10 to 15.
The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) already sent expert investigators to help the Iloilo Police Provincial Office solve the killings.
Despite these, PRO-6 director, Police Brigadier General Leo Francisco, said Iloilo province remains safe and the police are on top of the situation.
“On the part of the regional police, we are reviewing the deployment of Iloilo police and we will help them in the investigation of these crimes,” Francisco said.
On Sept. 10 at around 4 p.m. a security guard identified as Wilson Gait of Carles, Iloilo was shot dead in the waters of the town’s Barangay Bito-on.
He and his four companions were robbed by four armed men.
Before the robbery, the victim and his three fellow security guards, all from Carles, withdrew P320,000 for the salary of employees on Sicogon Island.
Police investigation revealed that the security guards were on board a motorbanca when one of the suspects who identified himself as Jerry Dela Cruz asked if he could hitch a ride because he was stranded.
The victims did not know that Dela Cruz was the accomplice of three other suspects who were in another boat. One of them shot Gait on the head and chest; stunned with what happened, Gait’s three other companions jumped into the water.
Dela Cruz got the bag containing the money and swam over to the banca with the other gunmen. The police have yet to identify the robbers.
On Sept. 14, at 12:30 a.m., three young businessmen were shot dead in Barangay Villa Pani-an, Estancia. The gunmen were believed to have fled with over P7 million.
The fatalities were John Paul Bosque, Chrysler Floyd Fernandes and Mark Libao, all residents of Iloilo City. Their other companion, Jevron Parohinog of Estancia, survived the attack, unharmed.
The four men were on board a white Isuzu MUX when shot.
A day after, on Sept. 15, 44-year-old delivery truck driver Jerry Faldas was shot to death by robbers in Barangay Pasig, Lambunao town while his two companions were wounded.
Lambunao police chief, Police Major Jogen F. Suegay, said the truck was from the town’s Barangay Jayubo; they were stopped by unidentified gunmen in Barangay Pasig.
The robbers carted away an estimated P591,000 in cash.
As of this writing, Lambunao police identified two members of an existing criminal group in the province’s 3rd District as persons of interest./PN
