| Injured | Killed |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1 |
Date: 21 May 2010
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/gica-supporter-shot-dead-police-look-3-angles
Gica supporter shot dead; police look into 3 angles
Friday, May 21, 2010
AMID the exchange of charges between rival camps, a supporter of Dumanjug Municipal Councilor and defeated mayoral candidate Efren “Gun-gun” Gica was shot dead past 9 p.m. Thursday.
Cirilo Allanic, 46, was sleeping off a hangover on a bamboo daybed outside his house in Barangay Tapon, Dumanjug when he was shot four times in the head.
No one saw the assassin as Allanic’s wife left him outside after bringing him a pillow.
Allanic had just come from a wedding celebration.
His wife heard four gunshots minutes after she left but was too scared to go out right away to check. After she recovered, she went out to see her husband bloodied but still breathing.
He was rushed to the Barili District Hospital but died a few minutes later.
Acting Cebu Provincial Police Chief Erson Digal said although Allanic was a supporter of Gica, there are two more angles that they are looking into, aside from his political ties to Gica.
Digal said Allanic was the president of the barangay’s water distribution system.
Also, they learned that Allanic had applied with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to claim ownership of the lot that he is now occupying in Tapon.
Digal said Allanic was not the first occupant of the lot. Before he began living there, another person occupied it but later left.
Allanic later occupied the lot. Digal said this led to a lawsuit.
Digal said the elections are over and they are yet to conclude if this latest incident is election-related.
But lawyer Edgar Gica, father of Efren, said the killing of Allanic was unfortunate.
“Under the circumstances, the motive behind was to sow fear and terror among my son’s leaders and supporters and the witnesses to the cases we filed against (Mayor-elect) Nelson Garcia and his cohorts in connection with the May 2010 incident,” said Atty. Gica in a statement emailed to Sun.Star Cebu last night.
Earlier, Lou Oliver, the nephew of the mayor-elect and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s brother Nelson, was allegedly shot by Erwin Gica, a brother of Efren.
Early last week, the camps of Gica and Garcia traded criminal complaints before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office over the shooting.
Sought for comment, Garcia labeled the latest accusation of his rival as “political harassment” and said he does not even know the victim.
“They (Gicas) try to blame everything on me. That is too much. I don’t know why this guy (lawyer Gica) is always trying to drag me into this issue,” Garcia said. He urged the Gicas to just accept their defeat in the last elections.
Garcia said the allegation leveled against him was a “product of a malicious mind.”
He urged the Gicas to wait for the result of the police investigation before issuing their conclusions on the case.
Garcia also said they will file a case against Atty. Gica for malicious prosecution and libel, following the lawyer’s issuance of his statement to the media.
Atty. Gica, in his statement, described Allanic as a “skillful technician and a political tactician” who helped them during the campaign activities for the mayoral bid of his son.
As a technician, Allanic was in charge of the sound system, campaign jingle and other audio materials. He was also a member of the campaign committee of the LP in Dumanjug.
“He was the one I asked to seek and enlist the witnesses from each barangay in Dumanjug to support the complaint for election offenses against the Garcias for vote-buying,” said Atty. Gica.
He said the victim would have become a witness since it was the latter who informed him last May 11 to be cautious because the Garcia camp was out to employ a “sinister plan” to get back at them for their negative campaign slogans.
“(Allanic) was a vital witness to the ominous plot of (Nelson) Garcia and his cohorts to harm us and drag us into trouble with them,” said Atty. Gica.
He asked the regional police to apprehend the assailant and conduct a “massive investigation and tactical interrogation” on mayor-elect Garcia and his supporters.
He also urged authorities to “protect and preserve the peace and safety” of his family and witnesses in the case.
Earlier, Garcia belittled the countercharges filed by the Gicas before Provincial Prosecutor’s Office last Tuesday.
Garcia’s lawyer, Coeli Fiel, also warned the Gica camp against issuing defamatory statements, especially, in alluding to her client as a “drug addict.”
“They (Gicas) have to be wary in issuing (defamatory) statements. Besides, the campaign period is over. (Defamatory) statements, if unfounded, are no longer immune from prosecution. They should not push us against the wall,” Fiel told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview Wednesday.
Efren and brother Erwin hurled criminal complaints for direct assault with attempted homicide and indirect assault against the mayor-elect, his nephew Lou, Fulton Francis Riconalla, Ipot Gicale, Gebral Zozobrado, Nilo Quirante, Jojo Quirante, Willie Cabag and Rafael Baritua and two unidentified people.
This came after the police also filed criminal complaints for physical injuries against Efren and a frustrated homicide case against Erwin.
Lou filed charges accusing the Gica brothers, Cipriano Purgatorio and Jomber Sombilon of two counts of frustrated murder and two counts of attempted murder. (MEA/GMD)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on May 22, 2010.