Second victim in Quezon City van shooting dies

MANILA, Philippines - A son of a Constabulary general is facing two counts of murder after the second victim he shot in a van in Barangay White Plains, Quezon City died yesterday.

UV Express van driver Ronebert Ycot died at past 6 a.m. at The Medical City in Pasig, Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said.

Marcelo said the QCPD would amend the two counts of frustrated murder filed against Jose Maria Abaya, son of the late Philippine Constabulary general Antonio Abaya, to two counts of murder.

The QCPD earlier filed a complaint for murder, two counts of frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms against the suspect.

Abaya turned himself in to the police after he strafed a passenger van, which broke down along Katipunan Avenue Extension, before 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The suspect admitted that he shot the van because he thought its driver was tailing him to return him to the drug rehabilitation center.

The shooting led to the death of assistant bank manager Joyce Santos, 41, and Ycot, and the wounding of another passenger, Duke Angelo David.

David has been discharged from the hospital.

Ycot’s mother, Nemia, said her son was a traffic enforcer in Marikina City and had been moonlighting as a van driver to augment his income.

The victims’ families vowed to pursue the charges against Abaya, who is being held at the QCPD headquarters at Camp Karingal.

Old case dismissed

The homicide case filed against Abaya in 2012 for the killing of Roger Biquit, a security guard of Silvercrest Foundation, a drug rehabilitation facility in Parañaque City, had been dismissed.

Earlier reports said that Abaya had been in and out of the rehabilitation center.

Senior Inspector Elmer Monsalve of the QCPD homicide section said Biquit and his colleague, Richard Reyes, were supposed to take custody of Abaya when he shot them in his house at Greenmeadows Subdivision on Oct. 20, 2012.

Abaya escaped from the rehabilitation center prior to the shooting.

Documents obtained by The STAR showed that Judge Eleuterio Bathan of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 92 dismissed the case against Abaya on Dec. 18, 2012 after Biquit’s widow, Marites, filed an affidavit of desistance.

Marites believed that her husband’s death was accidental.

“I have decided to absolve Abaya of any civil or criminal liability in connection with the death of my husband,” read the affidavit.

Reyes, who was hurt in the shooting, withdrew the frustrated homicide case against Abaya.

Paraffin tests

Results of Abaya’s paraffin tests showed that he was positive for gunpowder burns, police said.

Marcelo said the .40 caliber Glock pistol used by Abaya in the White Plains shooting was registered to Joseph See.

There are two firearms registered under his name but the one he used in the latest incident was not his, according to Marcelo.

Philippine National Police (PNP) crime laboratory officials have conducted a trajectory examination of the van to determine the entry and exit points of the bullets that killed Santos and Ycot.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Edgardo Tinio said they would request the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office to revoke Abaya‘s gun permit. 

Tinio said the suspect’s firearms would be subjected to ballistics examination to determine if they were used in previous shootings. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe