They want justice, not flowers from mayor

The Tulalian family of Gamban Extension in Barangay 115 used to look forward to the founding anniversary of Pasay City on Dec. 2, when fireworks lit up the sky as residents partook of the barangay feast.

But Ancyl Tulalian said she would now rather cover her ears than hear the loud explosions, which served to remind her of the shots that felled her husband on Wednesday night.

Tricycle driver Jerry Tulalian, 37, was driving on Roxas Boulevard at 10:15 p.m. near the police traffic enforcement unit and Cuneta Astrodome when two black-shirted men on a motorcycle appeared.

One of them got off and fired two shots at the victim before escaping, according to a report by case investigator SPO1 Giovanni Arcinue. Tulalian, who died on the spot, was hit in the head and the right side of his body.

Crime scene investigators recovered one fired cartridge from a .45-cal. pistol and a heat-sealed sachet of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride). A placard was also found inside Tulalian’s green tricycle, calling him a “drug pusher” who should not be anyone’s role model.

Ancyl claimed Tulalian never peddled drugs, but said there was talk “in the neighborhood that he uses [shabu] but I do not believe them.”

“I always check him every time he sleeps, and I only find a pack of cigarettes, nothing more,” she said.

Waiting for Calixto

Tulalian’s wife expressed disappointment at Mayor Antonino Calixto’s silence on the string of drug-related deaths in the city. “I know he will talk during the Pasay Day celebration, but he doesn’t say anything about the killings that happen left and right here in Pasay, unlike other mayors I saw on TV who ordered their police to do something.”

Reached for comment, Calixto said his office had been receiving reports of deaths under inquiry, a police euphemism for extrajudicial killings. But he said his hands were tied because there were no formal complaints filed.

“There are only two complaints filed in the police. The other families are not filing cases with proper authorities,” the mayor said.

He was referring to Hara Kazuo, the widow of Jaypee Bertes, who was killed by policemen along with his father inside a Pasay police precinct in July,  and Rachel Bermoy, whose live-in partner, Eric Sison, was shot dead by Pasay police in Barangay 43.

Calixto said he already ordered police to solve the cases as soon as possible, and frankly asked them if they were involved in the deaths.

“They denied this, saying others fought with operatives and most were killed by motorcycle-riding suspects,” he said. “Many were killed but Pasay has been more peaceful compared with the previous years,” the mayor claimed, saying there were fewer people loitering in the streets at night.

The mayor brought flowers at Tulalian’s wake at Veronica Memorial Homes, but Sammy, the victim’s younger  brother, said what they needed was justice.

Brother’s story

Tulalian’s fellow tricycle drivers at Gumban said someone may have planned his death. According to Sammy, two women were seen waiting at the tricycle terminal past 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

The two, however, refused to ride other tricycles other than Tulalian’s. They asked to be dropped off at Cuneta Astrodome.

Ancyl, however, said she could not think of anyone who could plot her husband’s death. “He used to be a barangay tanod and people here even urged him to run as barangay councilor. He had no crime record,” the wife added. “He was a good man.”

Ancyl, who is eight months pregnant, said her husband was also a good father to their two children aged 11 and one./rga