TESDA trainee shot to death in Pardo; classmate survives

CEBU, Philippines - A trainee of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority died while his fellow trainee survived after they both got shot at by unidentified car-riding assailants dawn yesterday in barangay Pardo, Cebu City.

Joperin Birondo, 31 years old, and Ronnel Galon, 26, both residents of sitio Tugas of the said barangay and both welding trainees of TESDA, fell victims to what police theorized as either an incident of mistaken identities or so-called “paregla” (committed out of sheer thrill).

Investigation showed that the victims were fresh from a birthday bash of their classmate identified as Charlie Labrada in barangay Inayawan. Along with another classmate, Allan Cabrera, who also resides at the said place, they were talking at the roadside together with one Allan Panogaling at around 2 a.m. when a blue Toyota Corolla car passed by. Suddenly, somebody from inside the car shot them and might have sped towards Kinasang-an or Cogon-Pardo.

Galon was hit at the back of his shoulder and in the neck. He then boarded a taxicab and asked to be taken to the Cebu City Medical Center where he is now in stable condition, police confirmed.

Birondo, on the other hand, was hit in the back of his head and was also rushed by responding barangay tanods to the same hospital where he was pronounced dead minutes later.

Bystanders at the vicinity of the crime scene turned over four live rounds of a .38 caliber revolver to responding policemen - SPO1 Melchor Jumamil and PO2 Diosdado Parejas - of the Pardo Police Station.

SPO3 Rey Cuyos said they are still clueless as to the motive of the shooting because even the surviving victim claimed having no idea as to why they were attacked.

Cuyos told The FREEMAN that the victim could not recall of any “atraso” (arrear, or in street language may mean “unsettled debt”) to anybody and that he and Birondo do not have previous criminal records.

The police investigator said it is possible that the assailants, believed to be around four people, mistook the victims for those who, perhaps, had been hostile to them in the past; thus have festered over a past grudge. — Niña G. Sumacot/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)