Hunt on for killers of gun-for-hire, companion

A broken glass window of Samar Bus Line indicates which part of the bus the two passengers were killed. ROBERT DEJON/CEBU DAILY NEWS

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar—Police are looking for two men who shot dead an alleged gun-for-hire just released from jail and his companion inside a passenger bus in Tarangan town, Samar, Tuesday morning.

Alex Regulacion, 41, and Jannel Belleza, both residents of Calbayog City, were inside Samar Bus Line bound for Catbalogan City when they were shot about 6:50 a.m.

Regulacion was allegedly a gun-for-hire operating in Samar and was involved in several killings, said Chief Insp. Angelo Pueblos, Samar police intelligence chief.

He said Regulacion had been detained on charges of homicide but recently released after posting bail.

Belleza was the brother of Arnold Belleza, leader of a gun-for-hire group that included Regulacion.

READ: Gun-for-hire, companion shot dead inside bus in Samar

Police report said Regulacion and Belleza were among the passengers of Samar Bus Line, bearing plate No. HAK-659, bound for Catbalogan City.

Upon reaching Barangay (village) Sta. Cruz in Tarangnan, bus driver Danny Seludo stopped the vehicle and told his helper to check the tires since one of them was apparently flat.

The helper went down from the bus when he heard bursts of gunfire.

Pueblos said bus inspector Eduardo Arcallana saw two men, seated at the back of the victims, suddenly shoot the two in the head. The gunmen then casually got off the bus and boarded two motorcycles driven by still unidentified men.

Pueblos said the two motorcycles had been tailing the bus since the two victims boarded the vehicle./rga

Jannel Belleza slumps on the seat of Samar Bus Line after he and his companion, Alex Regulacion, were shot by still unidentified gunmen on Tuesday morning. Robert Dejon/Inquirer Visayas