MANILA, Philippines—It turned out to be their last family dinner together.
A Pangasinan-based political couple, Ramon and Zorahayda Arcinue, both 55, were shot dead by a lone gunman in Sampaloc, Manila, just as they got home from a restaurant dinner with a son, on Wednesday night.
Ramon, 55, used to be the vice-mayor of Lingayen, Pangasinan, while Zorahayda, also 55, was the chairwoman of Brgy. Poblacion, Lingayen, at the time of her murder.
The couple were in the city to celebrate with their son, Jasson Louie, who had just passed some exams and was set to enter medical school, Manila Police District Homicide section chief, Senior Insp. Joselito de Ocampo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He said the couple had just arrived in Metro Manila on Wednesday, and had no bodyguards with them.
The couple were staying at an apartment on A. Maceda St., Sampaloc, Manila. This was where the unidentified assassin had shot them in cold blood at around 10:50 p.m. on Wednesday, said the Police Station 4 commander, Supt. Rolando Balasabas.
The couple had just come home from dinner with Jasson Louie and a companion at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Jasson Louie had even dropped off his parents at the Sampaloc apartment in a Honda SUV before driving off to his own home elsewhere in the metro.
The gunman apparently struck after the car had left. Residents of the neighborhood told police they had heard a female, believed to be Zorahayda, and a male, believed to be the gunman, arguing before they heard two gunshots, Balasabas narrated.
The two gunshots, coming from a .43-caliber gun, were fired at the Arcinue couple. Ramon was found slumped on the wall adjacent the gate, with a gunshot wound at the back of his head. Zorahayda was felled with a gunshot wound to her forehead. She had entered the gate to their apartment and was on the way to the front door of their home when shot, Balabas said.
The couple were rushed to the University of Santo Tomas hospital but were declared dead on arrival.
Due to the “precise” shotmaking by the gunman, Balasabas surmised the gunman was an experienced assassin.
Witnesses, mostly tricycle drivers, felt afraid to stop the armed man as he hurriedly fled toward España Blvd. From there, he was able to board a Fairview-Quiapo bus going north, and make his escape.
The gunman was described to be in his late 20s, 5’5″ in height, slim, of brown complexion, bearing an oval-shaped face, straight hair and chinky eyes. He was wearing a blue-colored jacket with white stripes, and was carrying a body bag made of some indigenous, woven material, the police report read.
Another of the couple’s sons, laywer Joel Raymond Arcinue, told police his parents had once survived an ambush in March 2011 at Binmaley, Pangasinan. He said the ambush attempt was obviously politically motivated, and was believed to have been perpetrated by a losing rival of Zorahayda’s.
The case on the murder attempt is still being heard at the Department of Justice, according to Joel.
Police, however, were still determining the motive for the couple’s killing in Manila, or if it is linked to the 2011 ambush, according to the police.