*from a local newspaper in Iloilo City*

CIDG chief’s nephew stabbed dead

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

Murder charges will be filed against 10 persons involved in the mauling and stabbing to death of a 19-year-old college student in General Luna Street, Iloilo City Monday evening.

Harlson Mark Azucena of MYL Subdivision, Brgy. Buhang, Jaro district and his four friends were waiting for a jeepney bound for Leganes, Iloilo when the group of Allen Saquilan accosted them.

Saquilan, 20, of Brgy. San Lorenzo, LaPaz, and his gang then mauled and stabbed Azucena, an information technology student of the University of San Agustin.

Azucena died of three stab wounds in the chest at the Iloilo Doctors Hospital. He also suffered injuries in various parts of his body.

The 10 suspects fled from the scene but responding officers of the Iloilo City Police Station (ICPS) 1 collared six of them after several hours of hot pursuit operations.

Among those arrested were Saquilan, Bryan Gallarte, 20, of Delgado Street, Iloilo City Proper; Dave Gangoso, 18, of De Leon Street, Iloilo City Proper, Mark Joseph Latonero, 18, and Donna Mojal, 18, both of Imperial Homes Subdivision, Mandurriao; and Swizer Tacorum, 19, of Brgy. Timawa.

Still at-large are Joseph Segura, Jake Talavera, a certain Joy and alias Cuba.

ICPS chief Conrado Carganillo said they are still hunting the remaining suspects even as they are preparing murder charges against them.

Carganillo said they are following the angles of love triangle, an old grudge and sheer tripping as motives for the incident.

Azucena is the nephew of Senior Supt. Renato Gumban, regional head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. He is also the grandson of former Iloilo City vice mayor Guillermo Dela Llana.

Gumban said they will file the charges against his nephew’s killers today after gathering the evidence and statements of the witnesses.

Gumban said the arrested suspects initially denied involvement in Azucena’s death by they started spilling the beans after hours of investigation.

“One of the suspects is turning state witness as he has been telling us who were present when the victim was mauled and stabbed,” Gumban added.

I have tried a thousand times to put into words how I feel. And a thousand times I failed. This time, I will try harder.

How do I even start this blog when all I can think about is how much we all miss Mickey? We still can’t accept that he died in such a tragic way. He was beaten and stabbed to death by 10 people. 10… If you’ve known Mickey, you would know that he would never hurt a soul. He is the kind of kid who would always think of other people first. The kind of kid who would send you a text message just to ask you how you’re doing. Family first… That was our Mickey. You seldom hear of teenagers who would put their family first…

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Mickey… The thought of you suffering makes my heart break a million times. I keep on praying that while they were hurting you, God was there by your side, taking the pain away. You didn’t even ask for help… So I would like to think that help was already there even before you knew what was happening. When I saw you lying on the metal bed, I couldn’t even talk. I couldn’t believe that it was you lying there. Lifeless. I can’t even fanthom the pain that your Toto Gylone is going through. Your Mommy. Your Daddy. Your Manang. Your Manong Lilli… Mama Deng. Daddy Lolo. Mama Jing. Papa Dod. Manang JnJn. We all miss you. We’re all praying for you. The first thing they thought about was where you were. If someone was with you. If you knew where to go. If you were scared. If it was dark. So we all prayed that your Lolo Arsing was there with you.

On the day that you were scheduled to be returned home, I was so excited for you. I knew that you’d be happy to be home. So Mick, don’t worry. We’re always here for you… Wait for us. We love you our dear Mickey…

Nang Mims