A wild chase Thursday afternoon perpetrated by a suspected gun-for-hire involving a target who was a Talibon barangay kagawad ended a few meters away from the stairs of the east entrance of the Island City Mall with the victim suffering a fatal bullet wound in the head causing his death. The victim identified as Rodrigo Barquio y Didumo, 43, a barangay kagawad of Zamora, Talibon town, was on his way to his hometown when a lone gun man came from behind and shot hit. The barangay councillor missed the first shot prompting him to run for his life towards the ICM from the Integrated Bus Terminal. The suspect who was believed to be a hired gun gave chase and caught up with his quarry among the parked vehicles fronting the east entrance of the mall. According to taxi drivers in the vicinity, when Barquio stumbled to the ground, he was executed in gangland fashion by a 38 cal. snub-nosed revolver by the lone assailant. The suspect then casually fled from the scene boarding a waiting DT motorcycle.

The suspect was said to be wearing a black jacket. He wore a bonnet when fleeing the crime scene. The same eyewitnesses revealed that two others on board a Honda XRM acted as lookout while the killing took place. The look out followed the motorcycle boarded by the gunman. The ill-fated barangay captain had just been from the headquarters of the Philippine National Police to post bail arising from an illegal possession of firearm charge. His house in barangay Zamora was raided by elements of the Provincial Investigation and Detection Management at dawn on June 8. The raid which was carried out on the strength of a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes III yielded a 38 cal. revolver. With the illegal possession case, he posted a cash bond of P60,000 granting him temporary liberty. As he was out of the PNP compound, the victim, together with his wife Delia, and five children, hailed a motor tricycle enroute to the Dampas terminal.

Interviewed later, Delia narrated that she already noticed that as they left the PNP compound, he noticed two men riding in tandem followed them until they alighted at the terminal. She believed that one of the men who followed them while on board a tricycle was the gun man. It was the second time that the barangay kagawad was shot. Last May 28, Delia's husband was also shot by an unknown person hitting him in the left side of his body. The wife was not sure if the same suspect in the earlier shooting was the same person involved in the latest incident causing his death. Mall bystanders brought the dying victim to the Gallares Memorial Hospital after the Thursday shooting but attending physicians pronounced him dead on arrival. Four days since the violent incident happened, police are still tracking the whereabouts of the suspects who were believed to be gun-for-hire.

‘WHODUNIT'

Who shot and killed Barquio at dusk last Thursday at the Dao integrated bus terminal? This is the question on most people's minds when it became clear that Barquio was executed by a determined killer. Barquio had just emerged from a tricycle at the Dao integrated bus terminal on his way home after posting bail for an illegal possession charge last June 10. The 43-year-old barangay councilor of Zamora , Talibon, however, never made it home alive. Two suspects who obviously trailed him, his wife and two sons from the time he left his detention cell in Camp Dagohoy on a motorcyle moved in for the kill. One of them shot him with a .45 caliber revolver with a silencer, wounding him the first time. The victim tried to run in the direction of the mall near the terminal perhaps hoping he would be safe there.

The killer was not to be denied, however, and he stalked his prey, unrelenting until he made sure Barquio was finished.Barquio was rushed to the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital but attending physicians declared his dead on arrival. The victim sustained gunshot wounds on his head and the body. With the gangland-style execution carried out in full view of horrified onlookers, there was no mistaking that the killers, or the one who sent them, wanted Barquio dead. Sources in Talibon confirmed that Barquio lived a jaded life. He had been previously accused of robbery but the case did not prosper. The victim was also implicated in the killing of a policeman's brother although he was not formally charged. Witnesses said Barquio's suspected involvement in other illegal activities is widely known but few come out in the open. When he was drunk, Barquio reportedly bragged about his exploits and people said they do not want to find out if he was telling the truth or not. There were also unconfirmed reports of suspicious-looking characters visiting his residence.

The increasing incidence of highway robberies in the towns near Talibon and Barquio's associations with unidentified men made his neighbors more uneasy. They, however, felt it would be better to just shut their mouths and leave their suspicions to themselves. There were stories, again unconfirmed, that the policeman's brother was slain because he was suspected of being an asset. With the killing, some of his neighbours say they feel like a thorn had been pulled out. Again, they refuse to elaborate. With the manner the killing was carried out efficiently, it is doubtful if the killers left many clues aside from the two empty shells from a caliber .45 revolver. Except for the black Yamaha DT 123 motorcycle, little else is known of the suspects who wore black bonnets and bonnets to conceal their identities.

Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim said the people of Tagbilaran have little reason to fear. “Indications point either to a personal vendetta or a contract for a specific target,” the mayor said. To killers like this, Lim said no place is off-limits and no target is safe.  Police investigators are considering many angles with Barquio's death. One is his former alleged involvement with the underground New People's Army many years ago in Mindanao. Another is revenge by those whom he allegedly rubbed the wrong way. What the police refuse to confirm is that Barquio was killed by vigilantes who suspected him of involvement in robberies and hold-ups. It is too soon to know the real story.