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CRIME SCENE. A scene of the crime operative investigates the parking lot of Honda Cars Iloilo along Diversion Road, Mandurriao, Iloilo City where repair supervisor Rustico Vega Jr. was gunned down Friday morning. (Photo by Tara Yap)
Honda Cars supervisor shot dead
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
TWO unidentified suspects gunned down a manager of a car dealer branch along Diversion Road, Mandurriao, Iloilo City in a broad daylight shooting 8am Friday.
Rustico “Rusty” Vega Jr. of Happy Homes Subdivision, Poblacion Ilaya, Zarraga, Iloilo has just alighted from a passenger jeepney in front of Honda Cars-Iloilo where he worked as service manager when the motorcycle riding suspects shot him with what is believed to be a caliber .9mm machine pistol.
Fellow workers rushed Vega to Iloilo Doctor’s Hospital where he underwent surgery. He died an hour later, according to his attending physicians.
Initial findings by investigators said Vega succumbed to seven gunshot wounds in his back.
A certain Jinky Pedrajas, 40, of Villa Carolina Subdivision, Arevalo district was also wounded while waiting for a passenger jeepney after bringing her child to St. Joseph School which is just across the crime scene.
Pedrajas suffered a gunshot wound in her left leg and is now in stable condition.
Scene of the Crime Operatives and the Mandurriao police recovered from the crime scene 19 empty shells of .9mm bullets and a badminton racket case where the suspects hid the gun.
Witness Mark Guites who also works for Honda said he heard a burst of gunfire right after Vega alighted from the jeepney.
Guites then saw the suspects board a black motorcycle. He failed to see the faces and build of the gunmen because they wore safety helmets and jackets.
The witness said the suspects fled towards Iloilo City Proper.
The security guard on duty at Honda Cars said he also heard a burst of gunfire outside the establishment. He later saw the bloodied Vega and Pedrajas lying on the ground.
Some of the bullets damaged the car outlet’s glass door and paneling and two cars parked outside the building.
WORK AND PERSONAL GRUDGES
Chief Insp. Orley Gabinete, Mandurriao police chief, said they are following two angles in Vega’s death – personal grudge and conflicts related to his work.
Based on initial background information gathered by the police, Vega figured in an altercation with a car owner who wanted to have his car fixed after it was involved in a vehicular accident two months ago.
Fellow workers of Vega also recalled the victim receiving a call from a woman during their Christmas party December 20, 2008.
The caller asked Vega to meet her but the latter refused sensing danger in the invitation.
Gabinete said the suspects, believed to be guns-for-hire, may have followed the victim from his home to Mandurriao before making the hit.
The Honda management has yet to issue a statement on Vega’s death.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
THE family of murdered Australian national Werner Holz has asked for protection from the police.
Senior Supt. Ricardo dela Paz, Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) director, said Vivian Posadas-Holz requested police escorts from the Ajuy PNP station for fear of their lives.
Dela Paz said they will assure the safety of Holz’s family even as he expressed satisfaction with Vivian’s cooperation in their probe.
Meanwhile, the IPPO chief said they need to fill in the missing link in Holz’s murder in order to resolve the case.
Dela Paz said they have been receiving many tips from their own informants that are shedding light on the incident.
Task Force Werner, which is spearheading the investigation, is pursuing 3-4 suspects in the Holz slay case.
Three armed men barged inside Holz’s residence at Brgy. Pili, Ajuy, Iloilo past midnight Tuesday and stabbed the victim 24 times.
The suspects also took away P1.2 million worth of cash and jewelry from Holz’s safe inside the master’s bedroom.
Police are eyeing personal grudges, domestic problems and business management as possible motives in the case.
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