NBI agent found dead in airport car park

CEBU CITY—An agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head on the car park of the Mactan Cebu International Airport in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City, on Wednesday afternoon.

Police, however, have yet to determine if NBI agent Jeffrey Jude Yap was a victim of accidental shooting or murder, said PO3 Lydo Pinos, investigator of the Lapu-Lapu City police.

Yap, 35, a native of Digos City, Davao del Sur, was assigned to the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons at the Mactan Cebu International Airport just three weeks ago.

A police investigation showed that Yap had a drinking session with Richard Manto, staff house maintenance worker, at the car park hours before Yap’s body was found.

After consuming two bottles of brandy, Yap asked Manto to buy another bottle and a loaf of bread at a store located outside the compound.

The police report said Yap called a security guard, Romeo Malubay, to ask the guard to test Yap’s gun that the NBI agent had said hadn’t been used for quite some time.

Malubay told police that he turned down Yap’s request because firing the gun inside the compound would cause alarm.

Malubay said he later heard a burst of gunfire. When he went to check, the guard said he found Yap’s body on the car park.

Single bullet

The security guard said he saw a .40 cal. Glock pistol near Yap’s feet, PO3 Pinos said.

Yap was brought to the Mactan Doctors’ Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

A hospital report said a single bullet entered Yap’s left temple and exited in the right temple.

Pinos said no suicide note was found in the staff house where Yap had stayed.

Aside from the Glock pistol, police also found fragments from a single bullet on the car park.

Pinos said police would ask Yap’s family to allow an autopsy and a paraffin test on Yap.

Pinos said Manto and Malubay were also subjected to paraffin tests while the gun would be subjected to a ballistic test.

According to Edward Villarta, NBI director for Central Visayas, said Yap paid a visit to the NBI office in Cebu City shortly after he arrived in Cebu on Nov. 16.

But he added NBI agents in Cebu didn’t know Yap personally because Yap belonged to another unit.

Villarta said based on initial findings of police, he believed that Yap didn’t kill himself but was a victim of accidental firing. With a report from Ador Mayol, Inquirer Visayas