Bar proprietor shot

A 38-year-old bar proprietor was shot and injured by two of his customers at his pub in Bacolod City late Tuesday, the police said yesterday.

Joselito Banagua of Florenceville, Brgy. Pahanocy, Bacolod, owner of Victoria’s Grill at Rosario-Gatuslao streets, Bacolod, was trying to bill the two men, when one of them took out a gun and shot him on his side, at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Police Station 1 commander, Chief Inspector Noel Manaay, said.

The suspects, one of whom was identified only as “Ian,” fled on a green motorcycle and was still at-large as of press time, he said.

Banagua, on the other hand, was brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and was later transferred to the Riverside Medical Center, Manaay said.

Based on their investigation, Manaay said the men who shot Banagua had been frequenting the bar, oftentimes failing to pay for their bills.*PP

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Priest won’t
file raps. vs. thief

Wanting to show love even after the person he had helped shelter abused the generosity of the Church, a Catholic priest yesterday refused to file charges against a woman who pawned his computer, and the cellular phone of another church worker without permission.

Fr. Cris Gonzalez, San Sebastian Cathedral assistant parochial vicar, told reporters he will not pursue charges against Bernadeth Lugue, 34, for taking his laptop computer worth P43,000 and pawning it for P7,000 in Bacolod Tuesday.

Instead of filing theft charges against her and adding to her problems, the priest said he will still assist the woman.

Gonzalez said the Church had provided shelter to Lugue, her 12-year-old daughter, and her mother Helen, 64, of Apalit, Pampanga, at the San Sebastian Cathedral compound in Bacolod City for almost a month.

Lugue had sought the help of the Church on February 16 after she said her husband left them at a pension house with nothing to support themselves.

At about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, however, Gonzalez told the police the three had left the Cathedral compound without notice, taking the computer with them and the Nokia 6060 of a church worker.

The computer contained data for the Holy Week celebration.

The cellphone was later recovered from a pawnshop in downtown Bacolod, while the computer was turned over by Antonio Pagalilawan who redeemed it from another pawnshop after Bernadette sold the pawnshop’s receipt to him, police records show.

Police Station 1 commander, Chief Inspector Noel Manaay, said they would release the three from detention yesterday since Gonzalez refused to lodge cases against them.*PP

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Laundry shop in city held up

A laundry shop was robbed by two men six blocks away from a police station in Bacolod City shortly before noon yesterday.

Philamae Stefanescu, 46, of Laundry One at 13th-Lacson streets, Bacolod, told the police that a man wearing a red helmet pointed a .38 caliber revolver at her, declared a hold-up and took P5,000 from their cash drawer after rummaging through the shop’s properties at about 11:20 a.m. yesterday.

Her co-worker, Rowena Cardanio, had just left the laundry outfit to buy lunch when the man entered, Stefanescu told Police Station 2 case investigator, SPO1 Hermelo Jalandoni.

The man, who had an accomplice waiting on a red motorcycle with no plate number, fled on another motorcycle after taking the shop’s cash, Jalandoni said.

Police Station 2 commander, Senior Inspector Luisito Acebuche, said they now have the identity of one of the suspects who was still at-large.*PP

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Man apprehended
for drug possession

Drug enforcement operatives arrested a suspected peddler of shabu during a buy-bust operation in Bacolod City Tuesday, the police said yesterday.

Joenard Pugoy, alias “Yayay”, 45, was nabbed by Bacolod City Police Office Drug Enforcement Unit members at Brgy. 27, Bacolod, at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, police records show.

Pugoy, who is number six in the BCPO drugs watchlist, tried to resist arrest, with his family mobbing the officers, but was eventually subdued, BCPO director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, said.

Recovered from the suspect after the DEU operative who posed as a buyer, and other officers moved in, were three sachets of suspected shabu, assorted paraphernalia, and a homemade .45 caliber pistol with eight bullets, police records show.

The police said Pugoy could face charges for violation of sections 5, 11, and 12 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and R.A. 8254 for unauthorized possession of a gun and ammunition.*PP

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