Mauling victim’s kin appeals for justice

The family and friends of shoplifting suspect Mario Alfie Ducayag held a prayer rally yesterday to call for justice for his death allegedly at the hands of security officers of a downtown department store in Cebu City.
About 10 people wearing black T-shirts gathered in front of the Gaisano Metro Colon and lighted 40 candles to mark the 40th day of the death of 23-year-old Ducayag.
“Wala mi laing gipangayo kon dili hustisya ra gayud. Ipatigbabaw lang nato ang kamatuoran. (We’re not asking anything here other than justice. Let’s just uphold the truth),” Ducayag’s mother Fe Soledad told reporters.
The store’s chief security officer, Mauricio Doblados Jr., was terminated by Gaisano Metro management effective last Tuesday, May 21.
The National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) concluded its investigation and will file criminal charges against the parties involved anytime soon.
At the rally, Ducayag’s 3-year-old daughter Athena Shalvin also shared her thoughts about “Papa Al-Al.”
Cerwin Eviota, PR consultant of Gaisano Metro, said the prayer rally “was an exercise of their right of freedom of expression.”
He said company officials were cooperating with the NBI and police to find out the truth behind Ducayag’s death.
Eviota said Doblados was fired for fabricating a story about the young man’s death, which he first explained as the result of a seizure.
“He made up the story about the alleged seizure. He fooled the management. What he did was a major offense and a clear obstruction of justice,” Eviota said.
Doblados, he said, was found liable for “serious misconduct and withholding of information.”