Witness in hospital slay of ‘jueteng lord’ dies

ANGELES CITY — The common-law wife of an alleged jueteng lord who was shot dead inside his hospital room here last Monday, died from a bullet wound in the abdomen that she sustained during the attack, police said.

Senior Superintendent Jaime Restua, city police chief, however, said probers were able to question Abigail Punzalan about the killing of her partner, Ruben Marin, before she died.

Marin was gunned down by one of four men who barged into his room at the St. Catherine’s Hospital where he was admitted last Sunday for a bullet wound in the buttocks he claimed he sustained during a freak accident.

The assailants also shot Punzalan and Marin’s visitor Christian Castro in the abdomen and right foot, respectively.

Punzalan, according to Restua, told investigators that the incident stemmed from a land dispute.

Restua earlier insisted that the killing had nothing to do with jueteng operations.

He said it was Punzalan who asked hospital personnel not to report Marin’s confinement due to a bullet wound, which was contrary to standard procedures involving shooting victims.

The couple earlier claimed that Marin’s gun accidentally fell and went off, hitting him in the buttocks.

A relative of Marin, however, claimed that some people interested in taking over his jueteng operations could be behind the murder.

Marin reportedly resumed his job as jueteng "manager" in this city’s southern parts after another gambling lord had taken over the illegal numbers game in neighboring City of San Fernando.

Two years ago, Marin exposed a San Fernando-based gambling lord as having taken over jueteng operations in this city.

He said he decided to make the exposé after the gambling lord stripped him of his job as "area manager" in southern Angeles City on suspicions that he was making it on his own.

Restua, however, claimed that Marin had not engaged in jueteng for quite sometime before he was killed.