NEPOMUCENO: “It can happen to any one of us… This is because those in charge of peace and order are not doing anything clear-cut.” Pocholo Concepcion
The comic mask was off. Instead, Willie Nepomuceno wore the face and delivered the line of a helpless ordinary citizen: “What is happening to our country?”
The popular impersonator, who mimics presidents and other famous personalities and uses the stage for social commentary, was reacting to the gun attack early Thursday in Marikina City that left his grandson and another teenager wounded in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity.
Sean Gabriel Nepomuceno, 16; Angello Abistado, 19; Franc Rayven Jocson, 17; and Sherwin Jerome Maralit, 19, were eating at a burger stand in Barangay Marikina Heights shortly before 3 a.m. when a group of armed men arrived, tried to check their identities and opened fire.
Sean sustained three gunshot wounds in the body, Jocson was hit in the left thigh, while Abistado and Malit were unhurt. Jocson was discharged from Amang Rodriguez Medical Center hours later and Sean remained at the hospital at press time.
“I remember former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez once saying, ‘What’s happening to our country?’ And that’s exactly how I feel because there is no assurance that we are safe,” the elder Nepomuceno said in an interview.
He was referring to the pained remark Pelaez uttered after surviving an assassination attempt in July 1982.
‘No hands-on mentality’
“I’m not only saying this because it happened to my grandson. It can happen to any one of us,” he said. “This is because those in charge of peace and order are not doing anything clear-cut. There is no hands-on mentality. Because as citizens, we can only do so much. That’s what I’m worried about, that this incident will eventually be reduced to another statistic.”
“I’m frustrated, but I’m hopeful there will be no more of these kinds of incidents,” he added.
Sean Gabriel is the child of Willie’s son, Dr. Willie Wilsson Nepomuceno, a veterinarian. Sean will be celebrating his birthday on Jan. 31.
Abistado said one of the gunmen pointed a gun at him before the shooting. “I thought I was going to die, but I didn’t take my eyes off him. I wanted to see him,” he told the Inquirer.
‘It’s not them!’
In separate interviews, Abistado and Malit said they had just finished playing games at the IT Log computer shop at the corner of Bayanbayanan Avenue and Bugallon Street when Sean invited them for snacks at the nearby Angel’s Hamburger stand.
They were in the middle of their meal when a shot rang out. They then heard the burger vendor shouting: “Don’t shoot! It’s not them!”
“And then we saw four men who were carrying guns. They fired at us, three to four times,” Malit said.
One of the gunmen approached them and asked “Is it you? Is it you?” “Do you want to die?” another said.
Abistado replied: “I don’t know what you’re saying.”
At this point, one of the attackers cocked his gun and pointed it at Abistado. He pulled the trigger, “but nothing happened so he cocked the gun again.”
“And then I heard someone say ‘run!’” Abistado added. He then got off his seat and ran as fast as he could away from the stand. More shots followed, with one of the gunmen shouting insults.
Abistado looked back and saw Sean bleeding. With the gunmen gone—at least one was seen boarding a white Ford Fiesta—Abistado hailed a tricycle to take Sean to the hospital.
Marikina police chief Senior Supt. Reynaldo Jagmis said Sean was hit in the chest during the attack.
Jagmis cited reports that a brawl took place in the area minutes before Sean’s group arrived at the burger joint and that the gunmen may have gone there to seek revenge.
But the officer said it was too early to consider the shooting incident a case of mistaken identity.
Jagmis said a witness was able to take note of the Ford Fiesta’s license plate number, which his men are now using to track down the assailants.