BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – It ended on an early Sunday night around 7pm when Nicus Balagosa, a young man in senior high, was declared dead by doctors upon arriving at a hospital from Granada Heights,
It was 7:05pm, 1 June 2024, around 72 hours after Nicus attended his last party, a birthday bash for a friend where he, a girl of 16, and his two male friends, one a boy of 17.
As the two linked cases take on interesting twists and turns, DNX, takes a look at what has been established so far on the two incidents based on the probes of two police units – Station 5 based in Granada that has territorial jurisdiction over the two cases and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Management Unit of the Bacolod City Police Office – incidents that have caused a stir in the otherwise humdrum life of the community.
Major Joery Puerto revealed to DNX facts that were not previously reported, among them the finding that what was first thought of as a gang rape of the girl, 16, later reported as a rape by only one man, has turned out to be a case of two men taking turns on her.
Puerto’s unit, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Management Unit of the Bacolod City Police Office led the probes on the murder and the rape after Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez ordered police to secure the family of Balagosa who were reportedly being threatened.
The CIDMU also filed the complaints against five men for the murder of Balagosa, two of whom were identified as the father and uncle of the alleged rape victim while the three were John Does whose names have not yet been known by the police.
“They are now considered armed and dangerous” but cannot be arrested yet pending the release of arrest warrants from the court, Puerto said about the men who attacked Balagosa’s residence early in the evening on 2 June 2024.
He added their probe revealed all of the five men who went to the Balagosas were armed and one even had an assault rifle.
Footage from the closed-circuit television of the family showed only two men went out of a red sedan that stopped in front of the Balagosa residence.
Nicus, who was playing billiiards, was seen running away from two armed men who went out of the car.
It was later known through the police that Nicus fled to his parents bedroom and locked it.
The shooters, however, forced the door open and shot Nicus in front of his parents.
Puerto said the two men were only the shooters but the three others stayed in the car, one as the designated driver while the two others were lookouts.
The car was also unmarked, all of which showed the hit on Nicus was a well planned one, he also said.
Asked about the background of the shooters, Puerto said the two were sons of a former member of an armed group but asked that the it not be named except that it was a non State armed group.
He declined to provide additional details.
The rape, on the other hand, happened Friday early morning after a birthday party on Thursday night and not on Friday as widely reported earlier.
Puerto said the probe of the Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk showed Balagosa, the two suspects, one a boy aged 17, and the victim were together in that party of a common friend.
The girl, who was earlier reported to have been gang raped then later said only one man sexually assaulted her, later claimed she felt two men took turns on her in the house in Granada where the party was held.
She said she passed out late that night after drinking a lot of alcohol.
She woke up naked, she said, with pain in her genitalia.
