Lim wants no bail for 3 men whose land row kills boy, 8

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has pushed for the filing of charges without the possibility of bail against three men who tried to kill a neighbor over a relocation project last week.

Although they missed their target, Russell Julgado, the bullet meant for her ended up killing her 8-year-old nephew, RJ Azarcon, and wounding her son, 6-year-old Bernard.

On Tuesday, Lim presented to reporters Romeo Esguerra, 47; Rene Macalnas, 49; and Ebrahim Piang, 41; all residents of Baseco Compound in Port Area, Manila.

They were arrested after Julgado, the site coordinator for a city government project in their area—Barangay 649—positively identified them as the three men who passed by her house twice on Thursday night.

She said Esguerra later stopped in front of her house and fired a gun in her direction.

The bullet, however, missed her. It went through Bernard’s right shoulder and hit RJ, who was seated at a table, in the spinal cord.

Both boys were taken to Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center but only Bernard survived. His cousin died before dawn the following day.

Julgado said that before the shooting, she had received death threats as many residents and illegal settlers in the barangay, including the three men, were opposed to the construction of a disaster center at Block 5 in Baseco Compound which would mean their transfer to another area.

RJ’s mother, Jocelinda Azarcon, an overseas Filipino worker based in Qatar, immediately flew home after she learned that her son had been shot. When she arrived in Manila, he was gone and she took her anger out on her sister and her husband. She also punched the walls and doors in her house until her fists were raw.

“I only ask for justice for my son. Even if I kill the suspects, it won’t bring him back,” she told the Inquirer in Filipino on Tuesday.

Her smile was bittersweet as she described her son—a second grader who sang in the choir—as hyperactive but obedient and kindhearted.

She said RJ was particularly close to Bernard since their houses were beside each other.  “Whenever he would come  home from school with leftover snacks, he would look for Bernard. Sometimes they’d fight but later on, they’d be laughing again,” she recalled.

RJ will be buried on Saturday, she said.

A shy Bernard was also at the press conference, his wounded arm in a sling. When asked if he missed his cousin, he nodded.