Girl killed, parents wounded in Cebu ambush

CEBU CITY, Philippines—An 11-year-old girl was killed while her parents were wounded late Wednesday afternoon when their vehicle came under fire in what police believed was an ambush related to illegal drugs in the town of Pinamungahan, 64 kilometers southwest of this city,.

The police identified the victim as Mary Joy Eramis, 11, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Pinamungahan District Hospital from a bullet that entered the left side of her body.

Police Officer 2 Carlos Barluado of the Pinamungahan police said the girl’s parents—Roan, 31, and Lea, 34—suffered bullet wounds on the left arm and left thigh, respectively, and were initially treated at the district hospital.

While Roan Eramis was discharged, his wife was later transferred to a hospital in Cebu City, Barluado said in a telephone interview Thursday.

According to Barluado, the couple and their daughter were traveling in their multicab from their home in Barangay (village) Sacsac toward the national highway when they were fired upon around 5 p.m. near the Tutay Elementary School by one of the two men who had positioned themselves on the roadside.

The assailants fled on a motorcycle in the direction of the neighboring town of Aloguinsan.

Barluado said the ambush could be drug-related, targeting Roan, who was allegedly involved in drugs in the past, but he refused to give more details.

Barluado said they were still getting statements from witnesses.