Slain caloocan man victim of mistaken identity, says widow

To the grieving partner of a man killed in front of his children as they were seated inside their car in Caloocan City, what happened was a case of mistaken identity.

“My partner was a good father and husband,” Evelyn Amit told the Inquirer on Thursday. “He didn’t do drugs [and] he even hated to go out [of the house] without me by his side. That’s what makes this more unbearable.”

Amante Anson, a 46-year-old electrician from Camarin, was shot dead on Tuesday by a still unidentified man as he and his children were waiting for Amit who was buying medicine from a drugstore.

His children, a 3-year-old boy, a 21-year-old stepdaughter and her 1-year-old baby, were in the backseat but they were unhurt. The stepdaughter said Anson had tried to shield them from the shooter.

Amit thinks her partner’s killing may have something to do with their car, a Toyota Corolla which they bought in June. Since then, unidentified men on motorcycles had been spotted monitoring the vehicle, she added.

Amit said a friend offered to sell the car to him at a big discount via Facebook in May. She tried to discourage him because she was uncomfortable as the negotiations were being done online.

“But he was persistent because it was going to be his first car. He said it was going to be his gift for the family,” she said.

According to Amit, she knows very little about the car’s previous owner, except that he was from Batangas and the transaction was done in Bocaue, Bulacan. After taking possession of the vehicle, Anson kept the license plate: PRK 108.

In August, she and Anson attended a party in his sister’s house in Caloocan City. Relatives and bystanders later told them that at least three pairs of motorcycle drivers passed by their car which was parked out front.

One of the riders even stopped, peered inside the vehicle and was heard saying, “Negative, sir,” before leaving.

Amit said they gave the matter little thought until Anson was killed on Tuesday.

She still trembles at the thought that the gunman could have also shot her children in the backseat.

“I am furious, and even though I know it’s bad to think ill of others, sometimes I think I could kill them for what they did to him and to my children,” Amit said.

“I hope to God they pay for what they have done. I hope the police catch them.”