A tricycle driver was shot dead inside his home in Pateros before dawn on Monday, the ninth killing carried out by masked gunmen on motorcycles in the town in less than three weeks.
Elpidio Cruz, 51, a resident of Barangay Sta. Ana, was identified by the police as a drug suspect included in the watchlist, case investigator SPO2 Felicito Brijuega said in his report.
Cruz’s widow Lyrian, however, said it was their son, the fifth of nine siblings, who was involved in illegal drugs.
“My father was only dragged into the issue,” the 12-year-old youngest son told the Inquirer during an interview.
“‘Bonnet’ boys,” Lyrian’s five-year-old granddaughter whispered, referring to the masked gunmen, usually in a group of four on two motorcycles, apparently targeting drug suspects.
Around 3 a.m. on Monday, the Bonnet boys barged into Cruz’s house near P. Rosales Street.
Lyrian said the gunmen seemed to be looking for somebody as she heard her husband say, “That’s not me, sir.”
Then there were gunshots.
Lyrian admitted that their son was on the drug watch list as he previously worked at a drug den in Taguig City.
They had sent him to the province upon learning this, she said.
The Pateros police have recorded 32 killings or deaths under investigation since July.
In the last three weeks, the Bonnet boys have gunned down Adrian Lanuzo, Kennie Lagman, Gallardo Cruz, couple Romeo and Nelia Rondolo, Aldino Vargas, Maverick Talato, Ralph Gabriel Maligo and Helen Talaboc. —Erika Sauler