77 Unsolved Murders Prod Cops To Seek Public Help

The ever rising number of people being killed vigilante-style has
alarmed the Cebu City Police Office, prompting acting Director Melvin
Gayotin to appeal to the public to help the police in running after
the perpetrators.

"It is already alarming but without the cooperation of the public, we
will have difficulty solving the problem," Gayotin told reporters yesterday.

Last night, a summary execution was reported in Toledo City.

Nobelito Tarongoy and Richard Lazaga were walking by the roadside in
Laray 1, Barangay Pobla-cion when two men on a motorcycle fatally shot them.

Drugs

SPO1 Victor Alcover told Sun.Star Cebu that witnesses said the two
men were linked to drugs.

Tarongoy did not make it alive to the Toledo City hospital. His
companion Lazaga suffered the same fate in Vicente Sotto Memorial
Medical Center in Cebu City.

No other details were available as of press time.

Here in Cebu City, Gayotin said the homicide section and the
intelligence section are exerting all efforts in the investigation,
particularly in determining the identities of the gunmen involved in
the vigilante-style killings.

The number of victims-some of them suspected criminals and drug
suspects-killed since Dec. 22 has now reached 77. And these all
remain unsolved.

The latest fatalities were identified as Rudolfo "Ondo" Druhom, 44,
and Marlon "Bobby" Adulfo, 33. They were shot by four men, two of
them armed with a .45 pistol and an M16 Rifle, at 1:20 a.m. Sunday in
Sitio Maaslom, Barangay Busay, Cebu City.

The perpetrators, who arrived in tandem on motorcycles, wore bonnets
to conceal their identities, Barangay Busay Captain Eliodoro "Yody"
Sanches told reporters.

Homicide investigator Jay Yballe and his team are still conducting a
background check on the victims but the families of Druhom and
Adulfo, in an earlier interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said the two had
no police record and were never sent to jail.

A check with the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center's records and
administration section confirmed this.

Libel

A sibling of Druhom, who asked not to be named, called up Sun.Star
Cebu yesterday and said they plan to file a libel case against
another local newspaper for tagging Druhom as an ex-convict.

Druhom hailed from Ozamis City and lived in Barangay T. Padilla,
while Adulfo hailed from Sitio Kalubihan, Lower Busay.

The city jail also has no records of Patricio Calledo Jr., 39, Bambee
Edar, 21, and Lito Toquero, 28, who were gunned down in separate
incidents last Friday and Saturday.