The man once tagged as the gunman in the killing of a photojournalist in Cebu City in 2004 was shot and wounded by one of two motorcycle-riding assailants yesterday.
Edgar “Dodong” Belandres, 47, was shot at least three times around 8 a.m. along the national highway in sitio Panocdocan, barangay Cawayan, Dalaguete town , 85 kilometers south of Cebu City.
SPO2 Cleto Pia, investigator of the Dalaguete police, said Belandres, who hailed from Cebu City, regularly went to Cawayan where he had relatives and a gamefowl farm.
Police are still investigating possible motives for the attack, including a drug-related motive since Belandres’ name had cropped up in a police watch list of suspected drug dealers.
Belandres, who sustained at least three gunshot wounds, was first brought to the Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital then transferred to the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital in Cebu City.
There was some initial confusion about Belandres’ condition after Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City police, told reporters that Belandres was dead and that his body was brought to a hospital’s morgue.
Santander later corrected himself saying the victim was being treated in a private hospital.
Initial reports said Belandres was talking to a neighbor when a red scooter arrived and the backrider fired a .45 pistol at him several times.
The assailants wore crash helmets while the gunman had the word “RESCUE” printed at the back.
Belandres was tagged in the 2004 killing of photographer-correspondent Alan Dizon, although there was no clear finding that the death was work related.
Dizon, who worked for The Freeman and tabloid Banat, was shot and killed on Nov. 27, 2004, at the North Reclamation Area.
Belandres was tagged by three witnesses who said they saw Belandres take off off his helmet before he killed Dizon.
Regional Trial Court Judge Ireneo Lee Gako found Belandres guilty on Jan. 19, 2006, but the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the decision on March 15, 2010. The CA said the prosecution failed to establish “beyond reasonable doubt” that Belandres was guilty of the crime./WITH CORRESPONDENT GABRIEL C. BONJOC