Businesswoman got death threats before ambush

The businesswoman killed in the Sept. 16  ambush in barangay Looc, Mandaue City, had received death threats before she was gunned down.

Police said an orange notebook with threatening messages was turned over to the police by Irish Marie Hugo Gonzales’ relatives. The notebook was found in one of the pockets of a laptop bag.

Written in one of the pages of the notebook was, “Mamatay ka Arlene og dili ka mobayad sa baboy. Mamatay ka! Mamatay ka! Inig panganak nimo?? Arlene???”

Insp. Ramil Morpos, deputy chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB), said investigators are verifying who owns the notebook and the penmanship.

The notebook also contains a list of names and cash figures.

Morpos said police are coordinating with the victim’s relatives but refused to divulge more to avoid hampering the investigation.

Hugo was driving a gray Starex van when a motorcycle-riding assailant shot her on Don Andres Soriano and Plaridel Streets, barangay Looc.

The victim sustained a gunshot wound in the head. She died shortly after she was rushed to the Mandaue District Hospital, a few blocks away from the crime scene.

During the ambush, Gonzales was together with Crisostomo Alcala, 39; Irene Alcoba; and Roel Relavo, 40.

Police said Alcala was a fixer in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Mandaue whom they arrested in an entrapment operation last July 5 after a barangay councilor complained of being given fake documents.

The businesswoman was heading for her hometown in Argao, south Cebu, and had just picked up Alcala from the LTO-Mandaue./REPORTER JUCELL MARIE P. CUYOS