CEBU CITY — The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) that is looking into the ambush-slay of lawyer Jonnah John Ungab, said Tuesday it is halfway toward resolving the death of Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa, Jr.’s legal counsel.
Ungab was ambushed by a lone gunman just across the Cebu City courthouse shortly before noon Monday, right after attending the hearing of his client, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa.
Senior Insp. Jonathan Taneo, spokesperson of SITG or “Task Force Ungab”, said they are looking at all possible angles, including the victim’s legal profession, politics, personal grudges, and other circumstances surrounding the life of Ungab, who was also the municipal vice mayor of Ronda, Cebu.
Taneo said they are in the process of gathering more evidence and witnesses who would lead them to the identity of the perpetrators.
The CCTV footage of Sugbutel is very vital in their investigation, he said. Sugbutel is located across the courthouse near the crime scene.
According to investigators, the CCTV footage showed the gunman waiting outside the Quimonda building that houses the city’s courts.
The suspect was also seen answering a mobile phone call, which police believed was from a spotter inside the building. The gunman was then seen approaching Ungab’s car as it exited the courts’ gate and started firing. The perpetrators reportedly fled the scene on a motorcycle with no plate number.
Ungab was rushed to the Chong Hua Hospital in Mandaue City but was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. by attending physician Jaime Ramos.
Meanwhile, members of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) – Cebu Chapter issued a statement condemning the ambush-slay of Ungab and describing it as “senseless”.
“We urge the authorities to immediately conduct a full and impartial investigation into Atty. Ungab’s killing and swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice. Failure to do so will only embolden murderers under a pervasive culture of impunity that knows no power of the rule of law,” the NUPL-Cebu statement said. (Luel Galarpe/PNA)
