NBI, gov’s help sought in Toledo trader’s death

The female hardware store owner who was robbed and shot dead in Toledo City was carrying about P1 million in checks and cash, and not just P400,000 as earlier reported, according to her son.

Steve Santillan, 34, appealed to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for help to seek justice for his slain mother, Maria Belen.

As of press time, no suspects have been arrested.

Maria Belen, 59, was bringing checks and cash from the store from the store, and was heading home unescorted Tuesday evening.

Two unidentified men blocked her way, grabbed her shoulder bag and fled on a Honda Wave motorbike after shooting her twice in the chest.

Maria Belen owns the Santillan Enterprises, a hardware store about 20 meters away from her house in barangay Don Andres Soriano or Lutopan.

Her husband Yehudi is a pastor of of the Lutopan Faith Baptist Church.

INVESTIGATION

Supt. Julian Entoma, chief of the Toledo City police station, said five witnesses were able to describe the two robbers.

No cartographic sketch was available yet.

Police said the perpetrators were probably from Toledo City.

“We can say that the suspects are local boys because they were familiar with the place and knew the time when Maria Belen goes home,” Entoma told Cebu Daily News.

The victim’s son Steve, a barangay councilor, said his mother was carrying pay-to-cash checks, PO (payment order) cards and cash in her bag worth about P1 million.

“Kwarta lang unta ilang gikuha. Ila pa jud gi-fatal ba. Ang kwarta, makita ra pero ang kinabuhi, di na mabalik (The robbers should have just taken the money without killing her. Money can be earned but life that is lost cannot be brought back),” Steve told Cebu Daily News.

Steve, the second of five children, said his mother’s remains would be brought to her hometown in Bohol on Saturday. A vigil is being held in the Baptist church.

Steve, who helps run the hardware store, said the last time that he and her mother spoke was 5 p.m., Tuesday, before he left the store to play tennis.

He was playing tennis about a kilometer away, when their driver told him about the shooting.

Steve said he drove quickly to the site and arrived there at 7:20 p.m. just as the police also arrived.

Steve was the one who brought his wounded mother to the hospital in his car. They arrived 10 minutes later but she didn’t survive.

Her 63-year-old husband had told her not to bring a lot of money from the store since she should bring the cash sales in smaller amounts every day.

She didn’t heed the advice.

Steve said that his mother was the “foundation” of the women’s group in their church and supervised the church’s Sunday school.

He described her as a “mother of the community” who had no enemies. Neighbors talked about how good a person she was.