In-laws propose sharing scheme; victim calls off real estate sale

A laundry woman of the Epe’s in Tiptip district this city, has showed to the city police station yesterday to execute an affidavit that revealed sketchy details of an alleged plot to liquidate the barangay captain. SPO4 Edgar Chan, chief of the city police investigation section, refused to identify the laundry woman pending completion of the affidavit’s notarial requirements. According to the affidavit which was yet to be sworn, the woman overheard a conversation early this month between the victim’s in-laws of a deal to sell a prime property along Espuelas St. this city. The victim, barangay captain Marcelo “Amar” Epe of Tiptip, was gunned down by two unidentified men while drinking a soft drink in a store near the barangay hall Monday afternoon. Epe and two members of the barangay council were at the store after their regular meeting.

The victim took a bullet in the left chest and exited below the left ear. He died on the spot. The same affidavit also indicated Epe asking his in-laws why he heard of reports that there was a plan to kill him. The same was denied by the in-laws, who are brothers of Epe’s wife, that a plot was being hatched to finish off the barangay captain. The property in question is a 3,000 sq. meter lot fronting the Ladaga Inn along Espuelas St. Priced at P10 million, Wela, Amar’s wife, was offered to get the lion share of P5 million while the P3 million will go as commission to the real estate broker. The balance of P2 million will represent Amar’s share. It was learned that in the same unsworn affidavit, the in-laws also dangled a document for Epe to sign if the deal to sell the property pushes through. The document was for the annulment of Epe’s marriage to the brother’s sister who was the wife of the barangay captain. With the proposed sharing scheme, Amar reportedly balked at the idea of getting the shorter end of the deal. With the victim refusing to accede to the offer getting the smallest share of the proceeds of the conjugal property, the deal bungled, in no time.

It may be noted that Epe has since been estranged with his wife after the later was implicated in a human trafficking case involving minors who were employed in the defunct beer house owned by the Epes in Dao district, this city. After the beer joint was raided by agents of the Criminal Detection and Investigation Group (CIDG), the wife who managed the establishment was since booked for human trafficking, a non-bailable offense. Since then, she was on the run and no information as to her whereabouts as a fugitive. Police probers looking into the case are zeroing in on the angle that the property deal was part of the master plan to bail out the lady suspect from possible time in jail. Whatever was the game plan, it was not known, but speculations are ripe that it has something to do with the case of the wife. With the closure of the beer house and the manager on the run as a fugitive, an imposing building, called Berama, which also doubled as a pension inn its heydays was also closed for good.

During Epe’s lifetime and in the company of his wife, the couple had invested in real estate and buildings. In fact, during Epe’s salad days, he caused the construction of a modern cockpit arena in Loon town. To this day, the Epes still owned the concrete cockpit but operations were leased to a group of cockpit aficionados from Loon. According to stories circulated around at the peak of the victim’s popularity in cockfight circles, Epe shared a vast fortune with his wife who reportedly inherited the same from a rich Arab employer in Saudi Arabia many years back. The rich Arab died during the wife’s employment prompting her to inherit part of his vast wealth. When she came home as an OFW, the wife was reported to be oozing with cash resulting in the husband becoming a popular fixture in big-time derbies in Cebu and any part of Bohol.

THE PROPERTY

In his lifetime, there were indications that Epe was not sold to the idea of selling the Espuelas property. While there are at least four households settling in the area, Epe was said to have told the occupants that if at all it would be sold, the residents thereat would be relocated somewhere in Tiptip where he also owned another landholding. The fallen barangay leader even assured the occupants that they would also be given goodwill money to start with as soon as they would be resettled to another place. Until the in-laws made the proposal to sell the property dragging the same to a full-blown investigation that may uncover who was behind the late afternoon murder of the Tiptip barangay captain. The barangay leader was felled with a 45 cal. gun as evidenced from the empty slugs found elsewhere in the crime. It was weilded by one of twp motorcycle-riding men who wore helmets concealing their identities to eyewitnesses.