Car-riding men kill suspected hired gun
Two days after unidentified men lobbed a grenade at the house of the mayor and vice mayor of Bacong town in Negros Oriental, a suspected gun-for-hire was shot dead yesterday at the town's Barangay North Poblacion.
The slain victim was identified as Ponciano Elloren Dellora, a 45-year-old laborer who hails from Zamboanguita town and temporarily residing with a live-in partner at Barangay Lutao in Bacong.
This time, the assailants are not the usual motorcycle riding-in-tandem but they were riding on a car when they shot Dellora, using a .45-caliber pistol, at close range at about 9:35 a.m. yesterday, near the Bacong Central School at North Poblacion.
Dellora was brought to the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital where Dr. Philmed Salendo, the attending physician, declared the victim dead on arrival from fatal gunshot wounds on the head and different parts of his body.
Senior Inspector Luis Lacandula, chief of the Bacong Police, said investigation has been focused into unconfirmed reports that Dellora was a member of a gun-for-hire group with Mindanao connections, who are also temporarily residing in the town. He said they are also verifying if the killing was related to illegal drugs.
Neighbors of Dellora said that, as early as 7 a.m. or about two hours earlier than the incident, they saw a grey car and motorcycles parked in front of the house of the victim, apparently waiting for the latter to come out.
Eventually Dellora came out hours later, but with his live-in partner reportedly to bring their child for enrollment at the Central School.
The police however received an information, after the killing, stating that the suspects were on board a blue car, but investigators said this might be an attempt to divert the attention of the police who were at the time conducting hot-pursuit operations.
Dellora's neighbors, who asked not to be identified, said they are already alarmed because a lot of new faces are frequenting the house of the victim, carrying firearms while name-dropping some politicians.
One of the neighbors said they even overheard Dellora of having a receivable of P70,000 as his "share," but no details were determined on where the money came from.
Just like in the grenade-throwing incident, the assailants of Dellora also covered their faces with t-shirts and fled towards the north, said the neighbors.
Lacandula clarified though that there is no evidence yet to show that the two incidents are related, and he is now calling all Baconganons to be vigilant against all forms of criminality and report to the police any presence of suspicious-looking persons in their barangays.
Lacandula assured witnesses their names and information extracted from them will be handled in strict confidentiality. He however lamented over the seeming "uncooperative attitude" of the public who he said might be afraid of reprisals.