3 men kill boy for P500 phone

Source: By Jovy T. Gerodias (www.sunstar.com.ph)

FOR a cell phone worth P500, a 14-year-old boy who was out on an errand was shot and killed in a robbery in Horseshoe Hills, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City yesterday morning.

Three men on a motorcycle robbed Carlo Sacedon Mangit-ngit, a second-year high school student who also served as an altar boy of the Alliance of Two Hearts in Banawa, Guadalupe. He died of a gunshot wound at the back of his head past 4 p.m. at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Mangitngit was walking at 8 a.m. to a vegetable stall, along with an eight-year-old companion, when the robbers struck, said Chief Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes of the Theft and Robbery Section.

Investigators learned he was tinkering with his Nokia 3310, using a stick from a broom to tap a text message, when the black XRM Honda motorcycle boarded by three men passed by.

“Gubaon man daw to iyang cell phone. Iya lang daw tong tuslok-tuslokon aron makatext (His cell phone was falling apart. He had to tap the keys with a stick to send a text message),” Bastes said.

Shortly after Mangitngit put his cellular phone in his pocket, the robbers turned back, stopped in front of Mangitngit and declared the holdup.

The suspects all wore helmets and black jackets, and covered their faces with T-shirts.

They probably thought the boy was using an expensive touch screen phone, Bastes said.

When Mangitngit tried to run away, one of the suspects pulled out a gun and shot him. Mangitngit took a bullet in the head.

With the phone in their hands, the robbers fled.

One of Mangitngit’s relatives, interviewed over radio DyAB yesterday, said the phone was given to the boy by his brother last January.

The relative, who declined to be named, said Mangitngit was a responsible boy who went home straight from school and during Sundays, served as an altar boy at the Alliance of Two Hearts.

Rammy Cabonelas, the victim’s neighbor, said the suspects passed by the area thrice before the attack.

Bastes led a team of TRS operatives in searching for the suspects.

As of 8 last night, two men were picked up for questioning. Bastes said his team will not stop the operation, until they got hold of the suspects.

Guadalupe Barangay Councilor Dino Faelnar, committee chairman for social services, said he will check on the family to determine how local officials can help.

He urged the police to step up their effort in solving the attack on Mangitngit.

He said the tanods conduct regular patrols in the barangay, including Banawa and V. Rama. He, however, said the tanods can only do so much in crime prevention but have no idea which part of the barangay is vulnerable at any given time.

Gang

Hours before the attack, a jeepney driver was stabbed by a group of suspected gang members past 10 p.m. last Saturday.

The incident also happened in Barangay Guadalupe, at the corner of V. Rama and M. Velez Sts.

Fortunato F. Ibon Jr., 28, told Homicide Section investigators he and his friend Elmond Lazaga were aboard a jeepney, clinging to the rear portion of vehicle.

At the intersection of V. Rama and M. Velez, the jeepney stopped for a red light and about 10 gang members approached the jeepney. One of the suspects, identified only as Topak, attempted to stop Lazaga.

Ibon reportedly intervened, and that’s when Topak stabbed him many times. He was taken to Chong Hua Hospital.

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