Peace Corps man, 9 others shot dead
persæus©
By Nereo C. Lujan PDI Visayas Bureau
SARA, Iloilo--Five drug-crazed robbers armed with an assault rifle and hand
guns raked several passing vehicles with gunfire here Wednesday night,
killing 10 travelers, including a US Peace Corps Volunteer.
Robert John Bock, 33, a fisheries expert from New York, and his driver, Jose
Garcia, died with multiple gunshot wounds beside their van in Barangay
Bacabac, this town, 109 km northeast of Iloilo City.
Bock worked with the coastal resource management program of the municipal
government of Concepcion, 9 km from here.
Police yesterday arrested one of the five gunmen, Jester Longno, of Ajuy,
Iloilo, who reportedly admitted participation in the massacre.
He is being questioned by Concepcion police.
Also killed, either inside their vehicles or after staggering out onto the
roadside, were Jonathan Sotic and Francisco Castroverde, both employees of
Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc.; Roberto Pasten, Elvis Liamsin, Warlito
Aventurado and Juliocito Aspera, all employees of the Iloilo Electric
Cooperative III; and Eduardo Sortigosa and his wife, Angela.
The killings took place between 7 and 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Witnesses told police the robbers first set up a road block, then began
flagging down and shooting at vehicles passing by their leader's house.
They stripped the victims of their valuables after the massacre.
''They went on a rampage apparently because of drugs,'' said Chief Insp.
Camilo Cascola.
Some of the victims were shot in the head or neck.
Killings condemned
The US Embassy in Manila condemned the killings as a ''senseless act of
violence'' but said there was ''no indication that Bock or the United States
was the target of the killers.''
It offered its condolences to the Bock family and the families of the other
victims.
Bock is survived by his parents and two brothers.
The embassy said it was coordinating closely with the Philippine authorities
investigating the murders.
Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor also condemned the massacre, calling it the work
of ''mad men.''
Leader identified
Police officials identified the leader of the robbery gang as Ricky Braga,
reportedly a member of the dreaded Ilonggo Group, a kidnap-for-ransom ring
based in Metro Manila.
Braga, who police said came home to Barangay Bacabac on Aug. 9, is now at
large.
He is facing murder and frustrated murder cases at the Iloilo Regional Trial
Court, according to Senior Supt. Wilfredo Blanco, director staff chief of
the Philippine National Police in Western Visayas.
Manhunt
Still being hunted, aside from Braga, are his brother, Feliciano; Danilo
Vargas, of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental but living in Bacabac; and an
unidentified fifth suspect.
Provincial Police Director Pedro Sanchez said more than 70 policemen were
scouring several nearby villages for the Braga brothers and the other
suspects.
Blanco said Braga must have gone back to Bacabac to avoid the heat of the
campaign against criminal groups in Manila. He is said to be a member of the
Ilonggo Group headed by Tikboy Laxamana.
A task force headed by Senior Supt. Eduardo Jaymalin was formed to lead the
hunt for the other gunmen.
Blanco said the gunmen shot at six vehicles that passed by Braga's house.
They were reportedly armed with an M-16 rifle, a .45-cal. pistol and a
.38-cal. revolver.
The occupants of two vehicles were unharmed.
Bock and Garcia, who were in a Besta van on their way back to Concepcion
from Iloilo City, were the fourth set of victims to pass by the area and got
shot, the Sara police said.
The first group of victims were the two Coca Cola employees who were in a
delivery truck on their way to Sara. Then came the Sortigosa couple in an
Elf delivery truck and the service vehicle of the electric cooperative
carrying the Ileco III employees.
Those who survived in the first burst of fire were told to go out of their
vehicles and then shot to death, the police said.
Two workers flee
Concepcion police learned of the massacre after two workers of F. Gurrea
Construction who were on their way to Sara stopped several meters before the
scene of the crime, thinking there was a vehicular accident ahead.
But when workers Guillermo Brillantes and Nilo Gula saw a silhouette of a
man wielding a rifle, Brillantes quickly backed off their vehicle and sped
back to Concepcion.
Concepcion Mayor Raul Bañas, citing witnesses' accounts, said the gunmen
first chanced upon a tricycle that was carrying a sick person to the Sara
District Hospital.
When told one of the passengers was sick, the gunmen let the driver and its
three passengers proceed unharmed.
The second was an unidentified motorcyclist whom they flagged down but who
ignored them. The robbers shot the motorist but missed him.
Sara police investigators said Braga even fired at their own house when his
father asked him to stop what he, his brother and their three friends were
doing. No one inside the house was injured.
Van seized
After the killings, the Braga brothers and their companions took Bock's van
and drove toward Barangay Agnaga in Concepcion, where the vehicle fell into
a shallow roadside canal and got stuck in it.
They left the vehicle and fled toward the mountains on foot.
The US Peace Corps left the Philippines in the early '90s after the
kidnapping of one volunteer.
It returned in 1992 after an 18-month absence.
One police official said a man who was drinking with the robbers before the
attack was being questioned by police, but it was not clear whether he took
part in the shooting.
persæus©
By Nereo C. Lujan PDI Visayas Bureau
CONCEPCION, Iloilo--When word about the death of Robert John Bock reached
here, a resident lit a candle at his cottage and, along with several others,
said prayers for the slain Peace Corp Volunteer.
People of Concepcion had come to love and admire the slim, six-foot-tall,
33-year-old American, who had been helping the local government in fisheries
management and conservation of coral reefs.
He had been working here for more than a year, one of 108 Peace Corps
Volunteers in the country and one of five assigned to Iloilo province.
The bespectacled Bock lived in a house that also served as his office in
Barangay Loong, 1.5 km from the town proper.
He had become a very familiar face in the community. Practically every
afternoon, he would take out his mountain bike and go around this scenic
coastal town and its villages, visiting friends and beneficiaries of
projects he had helped set up.
An expert in coastal resource management, Bock arrived here early last year
to spearhead an integrated aquaculture project in Concepcion's fishing
villages.
Concepcion Mayor Raul Bañas said the venture had helped residents double
their income through various livelihood projects.
''He is a big loss to our people here,'' the mayor said. ''He had helped
many of my poor constituents become self-reliant.''
Most of the projects were set up in mangrove areas that Bock himself helped
to reforest.
Recently, Bock launched an environment sanitation campaign to prevent the
outbreak of rainy-season ailments in coastal villages.
Bañas said Bock was able to get fund donations from different sources in the
United States for the construction of sanitary toilets for 30 homes in at
least three barangays.
''He may not be able to finish what he has started here but he has planted
the seed of self-reliance in the hearts of my people, which can be nurtured
in his honor,'' Bañas said.
He disclosed that Bock actively helped in many other community projects.
On Tuesday, the day before he was killed, Bock was excited when the mayor
named him manager of one livelihood program.
''In fact, he left for Iloilo City on that fatal Wednesday because he wanted
to look for reading materials on swine breeding which he wanted to share
with the people,'' the mayor recalled.
Bock and his driver, Jose Garcia, were on their way back from the city when
robbers gunned them down and eight other travelers on the road in Barangay
Bacabac, Sara town, 9 km west of Concepcion.
Among the articles found near Bock's body was a folder containing how-to
reading materials on swine breeding. The papers were stained with his blood.
persæus©
break their bones and scald their heads with with boiling oil or water, chop
off their fingers - one by one, pierce their eyes, skewer them through the
ass, then set burn them.
http://www.inquirer.net/issues/aug98/aug15/news/news_main.htm
persćus© wrote in message <6r04qj$boh$1...@camel29.mindspring.com>...
Fred Amores
>
> Erap orders hunt for Iloilo killers. When caught, the police should first
> break their bones and scald their heads with with boiling oil or water, chop
> off their fingers - one by one, pierce their eyes, skewer them through the
> ass, then set burn them.
>
> http://www.inquirer.net/issues/aug98/aug15/news/news_main.htm
>
> >Iloilo townfolk mourn death of American
Pres. Erap should hire the infamous TADTAD vigilantes to hunt down the
Ilonggo Gang. They are expert on this trade.
rwin...@my-dejanews.com
Fred Amores <amo...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> pers=E6us=A9 wrote:
> > =
>
> > Erap orders hunt for Iloilo killers. When caught, the police should fi=
> rst
> > break their bones and scald their heads with with boiling oil or water,=
> chop
> > off their fingers - one by one, pierce their eyes, skewer them through =
> the
> > ass, then set burn them.
>
> > http://www.inquirer.net/issues/aug98/aug15/news/news_main.htm
> > =
>
> > pers=E6us=A9 wrote in message <6r04qj$boh$1...@camel29.mindspring.com>...
> > >Iloilo townfolk mourn death of American
>
> Pres. Erap should hire the infamous TADTAD vigilantes to hunt down the
> Ilonggo Gang. They are expert on this trade.
>
>
serious issues; First: According to a report, the vile monsters had been at
home for about 3 days with outstanding arrest warrants. Let's find out why
they were not already arrested considering they should have been easy to
find if anyone was watching. What were the Iloilo police doing ??? (er.. I
guess that should be *not* doing) How about some command responsibility, Mr
Erap ??
Second: They were high on drugs. Let's also skewer the police who tolerate
drug suppliers and pushers anywhere in the country.
Third: Before the vile monsters have their tongues cut out, make them tell
where the drugs came from then skewer all the dug dealing scum as well.
Fourth: A minute's silence to be observed across the nation for all decent
people as a mark of respect for the departed and to show we care.
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