Police plead for patience over killings in Metro Cebu

CEBU CITY — The Central Visayas Police Regional Office appealed for patience and time to solve a spate of brazen killings in Metro Cebu.

The appeal came a day after separate broad daylight attacks in Talisay City that resulted in the death of four people — 23-year-old Lagtang Barangay Councilor Art Stephen Bas and three prisoners of the Talisay City Jail.

The killings happened in a span of about an hour.

Supt. Reyman Tolentin, police regional spokesperson, said investigators were doing their best to identify the perpetrators.

“There’s no timeline on the investigations,” said Tolentin.

“These things do take time, of course. But we assure everyone that we are closely working on these cases to be solved,” he said.

Different motives

He added that people should not jump to conclusions that the killings were related as he pointed out that the motives behind each case were different from each other.

Cebu, Tolentin said, remained safe since the killings were “isolated” and should not alarm the public.

Bas, who was scheduled to graduate in mechanical engineering at the Cebu Institute of Technology University this October, was driving a heavily tinted Ford Everest when he was ambushed on South Coastal Road at the village of Cansojong, Talisay when attacked.

Supt. Marlu Conag, Talisay City police chief, said witnesses saw the gunman open the Everest’s doors after the attack to check if they got the right target.

“The vehicle was heavily tinted,” said Conag.

“It is possible that this is a case of mistaken identity because you cannot see the driver due to the heavy tint on the vehicle,” he added.