Lawyer shielded her children from killer’s bullets

The lawyer who was gunned down last Feb. 15 in Bohol Province used her body to shield her three children when her killers approached the family’s vehicle.

Her 10-year-old daughter, her children’s nanny, and a collector who was at the scene are ready to testify against suspects in the ambush on Manuelita Mascariñas-Green.

Her husband Stuart James Green has also submitted an affidavit to support the filing of murder and multiple attempted murder charges against four people. He filed his affidavit last Feb. 18 against Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, the alleged mastermind; Romarico Benegi-an, the suspected gunman; and two other unidentified attackers.

The four suspects remain loose. Gonzaga, 34, and Benegi-an, 33, were not in their rooms at Alona Embrace Hotel in Talawa, Panglao last Feb. 16 when the police went to check. Green’s daughter has identified them as her mother’s assailants.

Police Regional Director 7 Noel Taliño has ordered a manhunt, while the Green family and various groups have offered P600,000 for information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects.

Mascariñas-Green, 49, was representing one of the parties in a court dispute over the ownership of a Panglao beach resort.

“Mommy is dead, Daddy. Mommy is dead. Come home, Daddy now!”

That was the frantic phone call that British national Stuart James Green received from his 10-year-old daughter, who broke to him the news about the ambush on their mother, Manueli- ta “Mia” Mascariñas-Green, last Feb. 15.

In his affidavit, which he attached to support the filing of murder and multiple attempted murder against four people, Green narrated how the lawyer used her body as a shield to protect her three children inside the vehicle during the ambush.

Last Feb. 18, 2017, Green filed the complaint before the Office of the City Prosecutor in Bohol against Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, the alleged mastermind, Romarico Benegi-an, the suspected gunman, and two other suspects. The four suspects remain at large.

Gonzaga, 34; and Benegi-an, 33, of Davao Del Norte, eluded arrest when the police stormed their rooms at Alona Embrace Hotel in Talawa, Panglao last Feb. 16.

Gonzaga, the manager of Alona Embrace Hotel; and Benigi-an, one of the suspected gunmen, were identified by witnesses as those who shot and killed the 49-year-old lawyer.

Reward

Police Regional Director 7 Noel Taliño has ordered a manhunt and the Green family and various groups offered P600,000 for any information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects.

PRO 7 Noel Taliño ordered a manhunt as Green family offered P600T bounty for information leading to suspects.

Witnesses identified Benegi-an as one of the four people on board two motorcycles who ambushed the lawyer’s Toyota Innova at the corner of H. Zamora and J.A. Clarin Sts. in Dao District while she was on her way home to Loon, Bohol at past 4 p.m. of Feb.15.

Police said the lawyer was caught in the conflict between her client, Conrada Blomqvist, and the owner of a beach resort in Panglao Island.

Authorities also said that Gon- zaga is the son-in-law of the victim’s client and the two dragged their dispute over the ownership of the resort before the court.

Mr. Green, in his affidavit, said that his daughter identified Gonzaga and Benigian as the ones who peppered their mother with eight bullets.

After shooting the victim, the daughter said Benigian pointed his gun at the four of them in the backseat. The suspect pulled the trigger but he ran out of bullets or his gun jammed.

Green, who was out of the country during the ambush, also attached to his complaint the affidavit of his children’s nanny who saw Gonzaga and Benigian shoot his wife.

Likewise, the British national also included the sworn statement of a lending collector, who was sitting just across the crime scene prior to the ambush.

The couple have three children—a 10-year-old daughter and two-year-old twins—a boy and a girl. /