Shooting victim files complaint vs soldiers

A militant group member who was shot in Tuburan town last month yesterday filed a complaint before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office against two members of the military's 78th Infantry Battalion and a town councilor.

Emmylou Buni-Cruz, a staff member of Karapatan-Central Visayas, accused soldiers Ricky Lao and a certain Pepoy as the ones who attacked her and her husband on November 24 in sitio Punta, barangay 8.

Cruz also included in her complaint Tuburan municipal councilor Roy Tabo-tabo, Ritchel Buhawi of the said barangay, and two other unidentified men.

The victim claimed that she and her husband, Daniel Brylle, were on their way home from a meeting when one of two motorcycle-riding men fired at them.

Cruz, who was hit in the chest, identified the two men as Lao and Pepoy, whom she claimed she saw before the incident stationing at a beach cottage owned by Tabo-tabo.

She said when she went back to the cottage, the place was already "abandoned," adding that even Buhawi, the caretaker of the cottage, had left the place.

To corroborate her allegations, Cruz's husband also executed a sworn statement, which was attached to her complaint addressed to Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba. - Liv G. Campo