Ouano kin, friends visit wake; police looking for gun-for-hire

Family members and relatives closed ranks at the  wake of slain businessman Antonio Ouano, even as police investigators said his ambush was the handiwork of a professional gun-for-hire.

Access to the large  suite  at the Cebu Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills, where an 8 p.m. Mass was held, was  limited to family and close friends..

Inside the chapel, atop  Ouano’s  bronze coffin was  a cage with a live chick.

Following an old  Filipino belief,  if a  persons dies in a violent  manner,  a live chick and rice grains are placed on the coffin  to awaken the conscience of the wrongdoer.

It is believed that each time the chick picks a grain of rice, the killer will feel pangs of guilt.

Employees of Ouano  stood outside the chapel to condole with the family, one of the oldest and wealthiest clans in Mandaue City.

Wreaths of white flowers were sent  by prominent industry leaders like the  Gaisano family and ship captains who operated several barges in the Ouano Wharf.

Bogo City Mayor Junie Martinez was also seen at last night’s wake.

No policemen were visible when Cebu Daily News dropped past 7 p.m.

Mandaue City police heading Task Force Ouano said they were looking into possible motives for the killing, including business disputes and personal grudges.

Ouano was gunned down while driving to a court hearing in Mandaue City.  He was ambushed by two motorcycle-riding men on  Mantawi Drive near  Ouano Avenue in Mandaue City at 2:15 p.m last Friday.

Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Mandaue City police chief, said they are checking into family transactions and lot disputes for clues on Ouano’s murder.

Supt. James Goforth, who heads Task Force Ouano, said they have witnesses..

They include Ouano’s secretary Nene Mangubat, who survived the ambush, a triskiad driver and two other witnesses who took cover at the time of the shooting.

Goforth said the way the ambush was done suggested that the suspects were professional killers.

OUano was with his secretary Nene Mangubat on board a yellow Toyota Hi-Lux Surf when the ambush occurred .

Goforth said Ouano was about to make a turn to cross the other lane of Ouano Avenue in Mandaue City when the assailants showed up.

The ambush  took place several meters from the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). “The victim was followed,” Goforth said.

A  police patrol car was in the area before the ambush occurred.

“They were patrolling the CICC and the Park Mall since there were many people but it was raining at the time the ambush occured,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Ouano just came from a canceled mediation hearing of a lot dispute case at the Palace of Justice prior to the ambush.

Gillamac said Ouano was heading to the Mandaue Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 28 near Mandaue City Hall to attend a hearing on a grave threat case filed by his sister Vilma, one of the incorporators of the family-inherited business.

Ouano was gunned down by a back rider who fired several shots using  a .45 pistol.

The  assailants  then made a U-turn and sped towards the road were Ouano came from.

The slain Ouano, a resident of barangay Looc, Mandaue City was one of the owners of the Ouano Wharf.

Former Mandaue City Mayor Alfredo Ouano said the victim, his nephew, also owned vast lands in Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental.

Alfredo is the cousin of Ernesto Ouano, Antonio’s father.

Alfredo said Antonio’s family owned a mango plantation in Bohol and a shipping company plying the Cebu-Tubigon Bohol route.

Alfredo’s son, Cebu Provincial Board (PB) member Thadeo Ouano said they asked the police to speed up the resolution of the case.

Thadeo, the victim’s second cousin, said Antonio’s family remains in shock.

Gillamac said they are asking the family’s cooperation in the case.

He said he hopes the Mandaue City business community offers aid through a cash reward for information on the murder.

Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Ng Mendoza said he did not know Antonio personally because Ouano was a low key businessman.

He said the police should investigate first  because it was too early  to raise  a cash reward at this point.

Mendoza said the cash reward will be given if there are  no other witnesses coming forward to testify.