BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Jose Allan Braza was supposed to have coffee early in the morning today, 8 June 2022.
He never did.
He was not even able to order one from the roadside coffee shop in Malipayon (cheerful in Hiligaynon), a crowded community in Village 35 located in the center of this highly-urbanized capital.
“He was shot as soon as he arrived,” Ramel Sarona told DNX citing the testimonies of villagers who witnessed the public killing.
Other residents, who have already started to go about their daily chores in the community, also said the killers came very early.
And waited.
“They were already waiting two hours before the victim arrived,” Sarona, a police major who heads Police Station 1 that has jurisdiction over the crime, added.
It did not take long for Braza, 59, to become the latest cold statistic for murders here.
As soon as he arrived, the two killers pumped lead into him, hitting him on the head.
First responders found him sprawled on the road, near the Village 35 tanod (watchmen) outpost.
He was later declared dead.
The first day probe showed Braza was hit twice, all in the head by .45 caliber bullets from pistols used by the assassins.
Sarona said the suspects glanced repeatedly at their phones before moving in to kill Braza.
“They made sure it was him,” he said.
By noontime today, Sarona said they have already confirmed Braza was an informant of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, a police arm mainly against organized crime.
What they cannot confirm yet as this story goes to print is if Braza’s child, aged four, had witnessed his father’s killing.
