Trader implicated in car smuggling shoots HLURB exec

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera captured last Sunday morning’s shooting incident here between Alan Bigcas, a Cagayan de Oro-based trader who earlier had figured in the alleged smuggling of luxury cars from the United States, and the legal section chief of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board’s Region 11 office, police said.

The CCTV footage showed how Bigcas shot Miguel Palma Gil, a lawyer who heads the HLURB-Region 11 legal office.

Senior Superintendent Ronald de la Rosa, city police chief, said the CCTV recording clearly showed Bigcas as the one who shot Gil, who is now confined in a hospital here.

The CCTV footage, according to De la Rosa, will be used in the filing of a frustrated murder case against Bigcas.

De la Rosa added that a case of illegal possession of a firearm will also be filed against Bigcas once the police seize the .45-caliber pistol he used in shooting Gil.

De la Rosa said the case involved a “love triangle” as Bigcas’ companion in his car, a certain Aimee Salisi Torrefranca, was Gil’s former girlfriend.

Gil was reportedly cruising F. Torres Street Sunday morning when he noticed a vehicle tailing him only to find out its driver was Bigcas, who was with Torrefranca.

Bigcas allegedly immediately shot Gil, who sustained two bullet wounds, then left the scene, leaving Torrefranca behind.

De la Rosa asked Bigcas to surrender peacefully before authorities could catch up with him.

Bigcas earlier was implicated in the smuggling of luxury vehicles stolen in the US, including a Harley Davidson owned by a Hollywood scriptwriter.

The vehicles were found in a raid by National Bureau of Investigation agents, in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in two of Bigcas’ houses in Cagayan de Oro City and Talakag, Bukidnon.

Bigcas is presently out on bail for an illegal possession of firearms and explosives case filed last August.