1 of 5 ‘salvage’ victims positive of gunpowder

One of the five alleged victims of summary execution in Barangay Malubog, Cebu City tested positive of gunpowder residue suggesting that he fired a gun, said city police director Senior Supt. Royina Garma.

“One of them tested positive of gun residue,” Garma told reporters yesterday after a case conference with the investigators.

The police earlier recovered three caliber .45 pistol and one 9mm all loaded with live rounds of ammunition at the area where Carl Cabahug, 20, resident of Barangay Lorega-San Miguel; Leyster Abella, 26, resident of Barangay Calamba; Rolando Tayor, 29, resident of Barangay Labangon; Diorvan Sarijorjo, and Christopher Tangag were found dead on October 4.

Garma, however, refused to identify who among them tested positive of gunpowder.

“We can’t put meaning kung bakit nagpositive aside sa fact na nag-postive of gun residue, ibig sabihin lang nakapaputok,” Garma said.

She said they are now checking with the Firearms and Explosive Division (FED) of the Philippine National Police to identify the owner of one of the guns recovered from the crime scene since it has a serial number.

“We know that they are all linked to illegaldrugs, but we can’t say that this would be a motive since hindi pa rin conclusive ang mga ito,” she said.

Garma said they have retrieved text messages of drug transactions of the five suspects from their cellphones.

The families of the victims, especially that of call center agent Tangag, denied involvement in illegal drugs. Tangag was just trying to augment his income for the family by driving a motorcycle for hire or habalhabal.

Two witnesses who claimed to have survived from the attack accused the police of being behind the killing.

Antonio Belande and Charmaine Puran said in media interviews that they were picked up by the police in Barangay Guadalupe and were forced to board on a van to the mountain barangay of Malubog where they were allegedly executed.

Belande and Puran both claimed to have escaped from the attack by jumping into the cliff and hiding under the bushes until daybreak. The police denied the allegations.

Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas earlier said they were busy conducting a metrowide One Time, Big Time operation when the incident happened.

The Commission on Human Rights is already looking into the incident. In fact, it has facilitated shelter for one of the survivors.