Cebu City bar owner shot dead; personal grudge eyed

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Police authorities are looking into personal grudge and robbery as possible motives in the killing of a businessman who owned a bar in Cebu City.

Paul Ocsio Domingo, 39, owner of the Brodz Bar along the Maria Cristina Extension, Kamputhaw, Cebu City, was shot twice at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, more than 100 meters from his bar, by a lone gunman.

Domingo was driving his D-Max pick-up with his friend Lyndon Cempron when he was attacked, a Cebu City Police homicide investigator, SPO4 Alex Dacua, said.

Cempron told Dacua that they came from Domingo’s bar after having mild drinks and were about to go home. Domingo resides in Panagdait, Mabolo.

But a few meters from the bar, Domingo stopped the vehicle because he wanted to urinate.

When he got back to the driver’s seat, a man who was still wearing a helmet approached Domingo who failed to close the windshield of his vehicle.

The man allegedly pointed a .45 caliber gun at him and then uttered words that seemed he had a personal grudge against the businessman.

“Kaila ka nako? Kahinumdom pa ba ka sa imong gibuhat nako? (Do you know me? Do you still remember what you have done to me?),” the guy reportedly told Domingo as recalled by Cempron.

Domingo reportedly replied: “Wa ko kahinumdom nimo. Kinsa man ka? (I don’t remember you. Who are you?)”

At this instance, the man opened the back door and took a sling bag.

Domingo disembarked from the vehicle and was about to confront the man who then dropped the bag and shot Domingo twice in the left side of his body.

SPO4 Dacua said Domingo died later at the operating room of the Cebu Doctors Hospital.

Dacua said they recovered two empty shells, one slug and one live ammunition from a .45 gun at the crime scene.

Dacua said they could not yet conclude what motivated the killer but they have been examining the angle of a personal grudge based on Cempron’s account.

But the investigator added that the gunman could have just uttered the words to distract the businessman from the real motive, which could be robbery. However, Dacua also revealed that the gunman failed to get anything from the businessman. He just boarded his motorcycle nearby and left after the shooting.

Dacua said he talked to some of Domingo’s friends and all of them revealed that Domingo was a good, friendly and professional man.

Dacua said they already secured a CCTV footage in the area but they would have to get a technician to enhance the images. The gunman’s face can still be identified because he was not wearing a full-face helmet, according to the police.