WHO WAS JESSE JAVIER CARLOS?

Jessie Javier Carlos was a gun dealer and sometimes carried a gun, but was not known in his neighborhood in Santa Cruz, Manila, as a troublemaker.

“He was a decent man with no record of violence,” said Edgar Abrigo, head of Barangay 339 Zone 34.

Abrigo said Carlos also owned an employment agency and a nursery school and gave donations to the barangay to help it sponsor basketball tour- naments in the neighborhood.

Boyet Torres, a neighbor, said Carlos was a generous man.

“Hewas a quiet man,” Torres said. “You’d rarely see him on the street. And if you saw him, he’d just nod at you. He’s that type. We rarely talked, except when he’d ask me to watch his car. Then he’d give me P100 tip.”

House for sale

Carlos’ house on Felix Huertas Street was located about 10 meters from the barangay hall. It has a narrow gate and beside it stands the nursery school mentioned by Abrigo.

The barangay chief said the family tried to sell the house last month to a “good buyer” for P10 million.

The buyer was ready, he said, but during the negotiations the bank found out that the property was the subject of litigation.

“We didn’t know that,” said Abrigo, who was the middleman in the transaction. “We’re not sure what case exactly.”