Family, friends bid farewell to Ouano

Attendance in yesterday’s burial rites of slain businessman Antonio Ouano was kept to a minimum.

Only 200 employees were allowed to join the family and friends in the funeral procession that ended at the Cebu Memorial Park in Banilad, Cebu City.

Clad mostly in white shirts and dresses,  the mourners attended Mass at 8 a.m. in the  Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills, Lahug.

Media coverage was prohibited during the entire funeral rites.

After the Mass, the coffin was brought on a white hearse to  CemPark in Banilad for  burial rites.

Trucks and buses loaded with Ouano’s employees followed the cortege, escorted by Mandaue City police.

Relatives like Provincial Board (PB) Member Thadeo Ouano and Capitol consultant lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda were also present.

Amid heavy security, the family requested for privacy to mourn and witness Ouano’s burial.

Employees tossed white flowers atop the coffin as it was placed inside a concrete tomb on the lawn.

The live chicks earlier placed on top of his coffin during the wake were also placed inside the tomb.  Following a local tradition, the chicks who scratch and peck for grains are believed to disturb the conscience of guilty parties involved in a violent or unsolved death.

Supt. James Goforth, Mandaue City police deputy director and Task Force Ouano chief, said three Mandaue City police officers were assigned as temporary close-in security for the immediately family.

Goforth said Antonio’s eldest child had requested for security from Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) chief.

Goforth said they will present tomorrow an arrested man for identification by witnesses to see if he was the gunman in the July 22 killing.

The suspect was supposed to be presented last Friday but one of the witnesses was ill, while another witness was out of town.

Ouano was killed in a roadside ambush while driving from a  hearing  court hearing in Mandaue City.

Two men on a motorbike fired at Ouano as he tried to turn his yellow Toyota Hilux Surf into Ouano Avenue near the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). Visibility was poor since it rained that afternoon.

Mandaue police last Thursday  arrested 26-year-old Dwight Carmelotes, 26, who is wanted for a case of attempted homicide of a policeman in Balamban town.

Police said  he belonged to a suspected gun-for hire group based in Balamban, a charge Carmelotes, a construction laborer, denied.

Goforth said Carmelotes will be presented to witnesses including Ouano’s secretary who rode in the vehicle at the time of the shooting.