‘My husband wasn’t a criminal’

“MOSUROY sa ko (I will go somewhere).”

Joselito Labrador, 37, told his wife Jennifer after dinner past 6 p.m. last Sunday. Hours after, around 2 a.m., a call woke Jennifer up.

A barangay official told her that Joselito and her brother Bebot Alcoy, 30, were shot dead in a shootout with regional police troopers in Barangay Bugtong Kawayan, Barili.

They were killed along with their neighbor Julito Soroño and murder suspect Ronjohn Labrador.

Jennifer, now a widow, in an interview said she has to raise her children, ages 19, 16, and 15, alone.

The untimely passing of her husband and brother happened weeks before her 38th birthday on June 8.

The police alleged that Joselito and Alcoy were part of the group led by Labrador, who was allegedly engaged in gun-for-hire and illegal drug trade activities.

“Wala gyud na silay labot. Nadamay lang na sila (They’re not part of it. They’re just being dragged into it),” she said.

Jennifer said Soroño’s mother told her that the group cooked chicken inside the house of Labrador’s friend before the shootout happened.

She cannot believe Joselito was engaged in any illegal activity because he could not even give her large amounts of money.

“Suholan na siya modaro sa umahan sa among silingan (He gets paid doing farm work for neighbors),” said Jennifer.

Joselito was paid with P200 a day.

Alcoy’s wife, Marilie, 26, said her husband was only an ordinary laborer, earning P250 every day for delivering hollow blocks and sacks of rice.

Alcoy left a six-year-old daughter and a seven-month-old boy.

Labrador arrived in Bugtong Kawayan sometime in March.

Residents often saw Labrador carrying a gun.

Jennifer said she started to worry when Joselito befriended Labrador.

“Gibadlong nako siya nga di magkuyog-kuyog ana niya kay tan-aw nako di gyud siya maayo (I warned my husband not to go with him because I suspected he was bad),” she said.

Had Jennifer knew about her husband’s impending death, she said she would not allow him to go outside their house.

“Misalig lang pud ko sa iyang lakaw kay tarong man pud iyang pananghid (I trusted him because he asked me politely),” she said. “Di gyud ta kahibawo sa atong kamatayon (We really don’t know when death will come).”