Wounded city fiscal can now speak but bullet still in head
Assistant City Prosecutor Ma. Theresa Calibugan-Casiño had no idea that two people have been fatally shot by a litigant at Cebu’s Palace of Justice when she came in for work on Tuesday morning.
As she inched her way to Branch 1 of the Metropolitan Trial Court in Cities, she saw a familiar figure in white long-sleeved shirt.
She smiled at the burly foreigner as she continued walking.
A shot rang out and the 40-year-old lawyer fell on the floor.
Casiño heard somebody shouting, telling her to duck, but it was too late. She didn’t know that John Holdridge Pope, the Canadian man he was prosecuting for grave threats, had just shot her.
“She thought she had a stroke or a heart attack,” Joseph James “Jojo” Cornejo, the prosecutor’s brother, said as he narrated his sister’s recollection of what transpired on that tragic day.
He said all she remembered was that she collapsed and later felt that she was being taken to the hospital.
Casiño can now move and speak but still has not regained her sight two days after she was shot in the head by Pope.
Prosecutor-General Claro Arellano said she remains at the intensive care unit of Chong Hua Hospital.
The bullet is still lodged in her skull as doctors continue to monitor her condition before undergoing surgery.
Reporters keeping watch on Casiño’s condition had to rely on visitors for updates as the hospital refused to issue a medical bulletin.
Assistant City Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco- Rabillas, a close friend of Casiño, said they were told that the bullet is embedded on a major artery and removing it would cause greater damage.
“There is a possibility that the slug won’t be taken out from her head,” Rabillas told Cebu Daily News.
She said Casiño’s condition continues to improve.
“She can talk. She can see although her vision is blurry,” Rabillas said.
“I jokingly told her that we will get our nails done tomorrow because we used to do that together. At one point, she smiked at me,” she added.
An ophtalmologist, Dr. Jonathan del Prado, came to examine Casiño yesterday.
“We just hope that she’s just having a blurry vision. What we’re worried about is if she loses her eyesight,” said Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane in a radio interview.
Cornejo said the doctors wanted to control the swelling in Casiño’s wound before performing a surgery to extract the lodged bullet.
He added that her sister initimated that she wanted to go home and see her two children.
Cornejo said her four-year-old son was not informed about the condition of his mother.
Help
The Prosecutors’ League of the Philippines has already released an initial amount of P100,000 to help Casiño.
Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro, in an interview yesterday, said she donated blood for her colleague whom she previously had a falling out.
“Legally, we have a spat. But when someone is in need, enmity is gone. She’s a colleague. Despite all the odds, our being Christians supersedes all else,” Castro told Cebu Daily News.
“I do not have a personal grudge against her. She is a sister to me in this profession,” she said.
Pope’s sister coming
Police will wait for the arrival of the sister of John Pope before they conduct an autopsy on his body.
“The (Canadian) embassy has already contacted his sister who will be arriving on Saturday afternoon,” said Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el, acting chief of police of Cebu City.
He said Pope’s sister, identified as Susan Webb, will be claiming her brothers remains from the morgue of the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital.
Natu-el said they were advised to get the consent of Pope’s next of kin before they conduct an autopsy on his body.
“We were advised nga huwaton na lang gyud,” he said.
Police wanted to subject Pope’s body to a thorough forensic examination to determine the real cause of death. They wanted to confirm if the Canadian really shot himself after he was cornered by policemen near the City Prosecutor’s Office.
PO2 Celso Rivera and PO1 Oriel Hagupit said they shot to disable Pope, but didn’t see if the Canadian had shot himself. But a witness came forward claiming he saw the Canadian shoot himself.
“Yesterday, naay witness nga nagpusil sya sa iyang kaugalingon pero ipa-subscribe pa ang ilang affidavit,” Natu-el told reporters.
Suicide note
Investigators are also determining if the letter found in Pope’s house in barangay Kalunasan can be considered a suicide note.
The note dated January 1, 2012 and addressed to a certain Genevive, said: “If I am murdered you will have a valuable document proving that I gave my life for truth and justice.
“If I live, you may have a valuable historical document showing my effort to fight many of the problems found in the Philippines by international groups like Reporters Without Borders.”
Pope moreover, bequeathed the house in barangay Kalunasan to Genevive .
“This P600,000 house will be yours once you turn 18 years of age.
“This will give you a level of security most Filipinos can only dream of – their own house and land. But it is really up to you to give your life meaning through your actions.”/with Jucell Marie Cuyos and Chito Aragon
