Although nowhere in the police report that Doloriech Dumaluan brandished a shotgun during an outbreak of violence in his beach resort Tuesday resulting in an exchange of gunfire, there was no mention also in the four criminal cases filed by the former mayor against the alleged assailant. The four criminal charges were filed by Dumaluan, et al, against Teodulo Macalandag y Bonio for attempted murder after he was tagged by the former Panglao mayor as having shot him in the afternoon of Tuesday. The cases were filed Friday afternoon before the provincial Prosecution Office. Dumaluan was wounded in the attack while Macalandag an ex-convict, was also injured in an alleged shootout between two parties near the construction site of a restaurant in Sitio Sapa, Barangay Bolod, Panglao. Police inspector John Basalo, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection group (CIDG), confirmed in a radio interview that there was an exchange of gunfire by at least two parties that fateful Tuesday afternoon.

The outbreak of violence last Aug. 25 culminated a series of aggression initiated by Dumaluan who had long opposed the construction of the resort owned by Mr. and Mrs. Satish and Jacinta Nair. This was confirmed by lawyer J. Albert Tinampay, legal counsel of the Nairs, who furnished the Post a narration of facts leading to the shooting incident. According to the accounts of two construction workers identified as Michael Gonzaga Culgue and Dexter Culgue Dumadapat, they were carrying a G.I. pipe about 2 pm Tuesday along a shoreline in between Dumaluan Beach Resort (DBR) and My Beach Resort to be used as an electric post. Dumaluan however approached them carrying a shotgun and without any apparent reason struck Culgue on his left side and struck Dumadapat on his right side but the latter was able to parry this with his right hand. Both victims suffered injuries and sought medical attention from the municipal health officer. The statements of the Culgues were contained in a police blotter obtained by the office of the Tinampay Law Clinic. The medical certificate issued by the municipal health office was confirmed by Dr. Julieta Cogo, municipal health officer, who was contacted by Mayor Benedicto Alcala to verify the alleged mauling case. According to the blotter entry, a call from a mobile phone was made on the shooting incident. Elements of the Panglao PNP composed of PO2 Dionisio Astacaan Jr. and PO2 Russel Balani followed later by PO1 Rheneljun Zosa together with the SWAT and Soco team proceeded to the area. The shooting was already over at the time.

Initial investigation revealed that the two wounded victims were already brought to the Gov. Celestino Gallares Regional Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City. Dumaluan however was reportedly brought to Cebu later for further treatment of his gunshot wound. The other victim identified as Macalandag, 53, a resident of Barangay Tiptip, Tagbilaran City also sought treatment for his wounds. Macalandag is reportedly a former convict who spent time at the National Penitentiary in Muntinglupa but who was reportedly been granted pardon. Authorities recovered a Glock 26 mm with serial number CDC773 with one magazine loaded with nine live bullets, a Tehran reading glass, brown sunglass, one fired cartridge of 12 gauge shotgun, one fired cartridge case of 12 gauge shotgun, six fired cartridge cases of caliber .45, one fired bullet of caliber .45, and two 12 gauge Armscor shotguns with serial numbers 910541 and 1082273 with five live cartridges of shotgun which is the subject of ballistic examination.

Earlier that day, an electrician named Eddie Obod, 35, a resident of Lagtangan, Sevilla town went to the Panglao police station asking for police assistance after receiving threats from Dumaluan. Last Aug. 5, an electrician reported a stoning incident at the construction site to the Panglao police station. Hermocilo Opada, 21, alleged that they were stoned by an unidentified suspect from the rooftop of the DBR. According to the resort management, Tuesday's violent incident was the latest in a series of aggressive acts perpetrated by Dumaluan and his henchmen against them. Last Aug. 8, a security guard alleged that two males accosted him and another guard.

Renato Apa, 26, married and a security guard of Grand Luis Beach Resort said that he was on duty with Ryan delos Santos when the two men armed with a long firearm warned them in the vernacular. “Di mo patuo nga badlungun nga di mani pasudlan ug motor (You don't heed the warning that no motorcycles are allowed here),” Apa quoted the suspect as saying. For no apparent reason, the suspect then struck Apa and delos Santos on his stomach with his firearm before running away. Both Apa and delos Santos suffered injuries and were advised to seek medical assistance. Prior to Tuesday's shooting incident, Engr. Elmer Capayas, project engineer of the resort construction already requested police assistance from the Panglao tourist police. Tinampay said grave coercion charges were filed against Dumaluan last July for threatening workers with death if they do not stop the legitimate construction of the restaurant owned by Nair.

GRAVE COERCION CASES           

Tinampay said the grave coercion cases against Dumaluan were filed by Reyland Fernandez, Eduardo Culgue, Arnel Molina and Cirilo Luceño. The four cases were filed before the 14th Municipal Trial Court of Dauis-Panglao. In separate affidavits, the four alleged that about 10:30 am last July 10, they were working at the construction site of the restaurant when Dumaluan accompanied by three men entered the construction area despite the “No Trespassing” sign. One of the men carried a heavy bag while another brought three dogs. Dumaluan asked them what they were doing to which they replied that they were constructing a restaurant owned by Nair. The former mayor got angry and told them that he would not allow them to continue the construction because the restaurant would pirate his guests. He ordered them to stop working and leave the construction site or else he would shoot them and pay them. “He further told us that even if we stopped working and not leave the place, he would release the big dogs and have us bitten”, the complainants said in their affidavits. Nair, a Filipino married to Satish Nair, an Indian national and a resident of Mariveles, Dauis is the registered owner of the land covered by an original title. She was granted building permit no. 090113003 last Jan. 13 to construct a building within the said lot. 

CONTRADICTED

The statements of the Nair workers leading to the Tuesday shootout was contradicted however by witnesses who were lined up by the complainant. At least eight witnesses were lined up by the prosecution to support the four criminal cases. A joint affidavit of Romie Morales and Celestial Apolinar, said to be personal aides of Dumaluan, indicated that their boss received a call from a certain Yoyong Dejan, the doctor's brother-in-law, about BOHECO men set to erect poles on the shore of his beach resort. According to the two witnesses, they confronted a certain Frank Toston who was an employee of the Nairs and who misrepresented himself as a BOHECO engineer. In their testimony, they said the ‘impersonator” turned out to be a fake as Dumaluan called the BOHECO office if indeed a crew of the power firm was in the vicinity to install the electric connection. He produced a certification from BOHECO that there was no crew in the premises. The affidavit added that while they were at this instance, Toston and his companions left and brought the post and their equipment, but he entered the Dumaluan property and went near the former mayor who was standing and in a loud voice challenging Dr. Dumaluan, asked: “Unsa man god diay imong balaod” (What is your law?)

The affidavit continued: That Mr. Toston walked towards the boundary of the Dumaluan property and when he reached its boundary, he raised both arms above his head, and immediately the man standing near the boundary and whose name they later learned to be Macalandag, pulled his gun and aimed at Dr. Dumaluan who then had already turned his back and was just about to leave. There was no mention in the affidavit where the bullet hit Dumaluan. In the same radio interview with Basalo, he said the crime scene yielded at least nine spent shells of a shotgun, 45 cal. pistol and 9 mm pistol, an indication of the shootout angle.

The Dumaluan charges against the suspected assailant was also supported by the joint affidavit of two policemen—PO2 Russel Quino Balani and PO2 Estaniel Cortes Galve, both assigned at the Bohol tourist Police Station in Bolod. In their joint testimony, they said they were instructed by Police Inspector Junnel Caadlawon, Panglao police chief, to investigate the incident. When they arrived at the crime scene, they were told by Dejan that his brother-in-law was shot. Dumaluan's owned affidavit practically repeated the circumstances attending the shooting incident. However, in the complaint he filed against Macalandag, he included in the charge sheet the names of Toston, Larry Opada, and the Nair couple. According to the Dumaluan affidavit, they were included in the case for frustrated murder for acting in conspiracy with one another in committing the crime. Asst. Provincial Prosecutor Julius Cesar is handling the preliminary investigation and is set on September 9.

MYSTERY

Meanwhile, mystery still surrounds the shooting and wounding of the former mayor following a police decision to keep details of the case under wraps. Except an item that revealed that there were two wounded victims of the incident who were already brought to the hospital when the police investors, there was no mention who fired a gun and to whom. As for   Basalo, he said members of the Panglao tourist police proceeded to Barangay Bolod after receiving reports of the shooting near the Dumaluan Beach Resort (DBR) 2:30 pm. When they arrived at the area, Basalo said the policemen learned that Dumaluan was one of those wounded in the shooting. He said Dumaluan was rushed to the Governor Celestino Gallares Regional Hospital in Tagbilaran City for treatment. Basalo confirmed that while Dumaluan was being treated, another man identified as Teodulo Macalandag, 53, a resident of Barangay Tiptip, Tagbilaran City was brought to the same hospital. “We were told that Macalandag was identified as one of those suspected of involvement in the shooting,” said Basalo.

Basalo said Macalandag has been placed under police custody and being watched round-the-clock. He did not give details on the injuries suffered by Dumaluan and Macalandag but radio reports said Dumaluan had a bullet wound in the back and Macalandag was injured in the right arm. Dumaluan was shipped to Cebu City later Tuesday afternoon for further treatment. Basalo said that a team from Camp Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City , including scene of the crime investigators (Soco) went to Bolod about 5:30 pm for crime scene processing. Police recovered from the crime scene were a Glock 26 9 mm pistol with serial number CDC773 with a magazine loaded with nine live bullets, two shotgun cartridges - one spent and one unfired bullet, six empty shells and one unfired bullet of a caliber .45 revolver and two 12 gauge shotguns. The police report did not mention if the weapons belonged to Dumaluan's security guards or that of Macalabndag.

The Panglao police declined to give any statement saying Camp Dagohoy was handing the investigation. The Panglao tourist police office was the first in the scene. Dumaluan served as Panglao mayor from 2004 to 2007 after serving as vice mayor to Mayor Benedicto Alcala from 2001-2004. After losing to Dumaluan in 2004, Alcala exacted revenge when he won in 2007 while riding high on Dumaluan's alleged involvement in a rape-murder case in 2004. Despite the testimony of a self-confessed participant pointing to the former mayor as the mastermind in the rape-slaying, a panel formed by the provincial prosecutor's office dropped the charges against Dumaluan and three others. Then Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez sustained the panel's recommendation on appeal.