CamSur cops in hot pursuit of twins tagged in cockfight host slay

NAGA CITY, Philippines – Two brothers who are twins and said to be scions of a big landowning family are being hunted after they were tagged in the killing of the host of a cockfight derby and the wounding of the host’s companion in Camarines Sur on Monday.

Senior Police Officer 1 Aldrin Amaro, officer on case, identified the twins as Emmanuel and Eusebio Rey, both in their mid-20s, who fled after shooting Jeffrey Villafuerte, 30, inside the Camarines Sur Sports Arena in Milaor town around 1:42 a.m.

Villafuerte died from three gunshot wounds in the chest and belly while undergoing treatment at the Naga Imaging Center Cooperative (NICC) Doctors Hospital in Naga City at 5:30 a.m.

Villafuerte’s companion, Allan Balona, 59, who was accidentally hit in the attack, is now in stable condition at Bicol Medical Center, also in Naga City, according to Amaro.

Witnesses told police that Villafuerte, who hosted the cockfight derby, was trying to convince Emmanuel Rey to place his rooster back in the arena for a tie-breaking game towards the end of the cockfight.

Amaro said witnesses heard Emmanuel strongly decline Villafuerte’s request, which resulted in a heated argument.

“Emmanuel then asked for his brother Eusebio’s 9 mm caliber gun and shot Villafuerte at close range,” added Amaro.

The twins immediately left the sports arena on board their car after the shooting.

Amaro said the Milaor Municipal Police Office have already alerted neighboring police stations in the towns of Milaor, Goa and Bula, all in Camarines Sur, where the Rey family was said to own “haciendas” or big tracts of farmland.

The twins, he said, could use their farms as hiding places.