Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Sun.Star
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690
Author: Jovy S. Taghoy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Summary+Execution
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

COUPLE SHOT DEAD

The killings continue in Cebu City, with a couple suspected to be
"big-time drug pushers" in Barangay Tejero as the latest victims.

Police found the bodies of Jimmy Mendiola, 48, and wife Aida lying
next to each other at 12:30 a.m. yesterday on Mercado St. near the old
Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.

The victims both had gunshot wounds at the back of their heads. Jimmy
also bore gunshot wounds in his back and left arm. Aida had another
gunshot wound in her chest.

The deaths of the Mendiola couple brought to 32 the number of people
killed by still unidentified attackers since last Dec. 22. Their
bodies were autopsied.

It was the first time the killing involved a woman.

Supt. Pablo Labra II, chief of the Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Bureau (CIIB), Homicide Section Chief Mario Monilar and
Tejero resident SPO1 Adonis Dumpit said the victims were known drug
pushers in the area.

Labra said Jimmy was included in the watch list of the CIIB and the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Motive

Monilar said Homicide police investigators are also looking into a
drug-related case as a possible motive.

A check at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center showed that Jimmy
was jailed on March 22, 1993 for a drug case.

He was released on Nov. 6 that year and was transferred to the Drug
Rehabilitation and After Care Center, now the Cebu Center for Ultimate
Rehabilitation of Drug Dependents.

Aida had not been to jail.

Homicide investigators led by SPO1 Zenaido Pastorfide and personnel
from the Scene of the Crime Operations recovered five empty shells and
two slugs of still unknown caliber at the crime scene.

3rd in Tejero

No one came forward as witness, except for a security guard who rushed
to the area after hearing gunshots. He said he failed to see the face
of the gunman, who wore a helmet.

Lady Dawn Mendiola, the victims' daughter, told investigators that her
parents left their house on Alviola St. to visit a sick grandson at
the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

The incident was the third vigilante-style killing in Tejero in 17
days.

Last Feb. 22, Hector Salcedo, 44, alleged local contact of the
Mindanao-based robbery group Kuratong Baleleng gang and suspected
notorious drug pusher, was gunned down by three masked men on Alviola
St., Villa-gonzalo II.

Five days after Salcedo's death, suspected robber and alleged rugby
supplier Dominador Villamor Jr. 20, was also killed in Sitio Silangan
II, T. Padilla Ext.

One of the alleged gunmen, identified as Flordicante Sacol, a member
of the Lungsod Batok Salaud, was arrested for the shooting.
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