Village exec shot dead in Cebu

Police cordoned off the crime scene where the Isuzu D-Max of Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta was waylaid and fired upon at Sitio Simborio, Barangay Tayud, Liloan town, northern Cebu. Photo by Tonee Despojo, Cebu Daily News

CEBU CITY—The chairman of a village in Cebu City known for its problem on illegal drugs was shot dead by unknown assailants in Sitio Simborio, Barangay Tayud, Liloan town, north Cebu past 8 a.m. on Thursday.

Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta, village chief of Ermita, was shot dead by four armed men on board two motorcycle-riding men while he was board his Isuzu D-Max vehicle.

Ermita barangay Capt. Felicisimo Rupinta in a file photo (CDN PHOTO / JUNJIE MENDOZA)

SPO2 Andrew Rellanos, of Liloan police station, said that Rupinta was driving the vehicle while his companion, Jocelyn Mendoza, was on the front passenger seat when the ambush took place.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak said Rupinta was hit twice in the head and once in the chest. The village chief died while being attended to at Mendero Medical Center in Liloan, about 21 kilometers away from Cebu City.

Policemen are conducting a hot pursuit operation to arrest the assailants.

Initial reports said that Rupinta was heading home in a subdivision in Liloan from barangay hall in Ermita when the ambush happened.

Last October, Rupinta led the posting of tarpaulins in homes which he identified as drug-free in Ermita.

The Commission on Human Rights investigated his anti-drug program, prompting him to stop it.

Early this year, Rupinta and all seven councilors of Barangay Ermita were suspended for six months by the Office of the Ombudsman starting last February for failure to cooperate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) during a drug raid in November 2016. /jpv