By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A barber and a tricycle driver were gunned down in separate areas here on Friday and Sunday.
The latest shooting incident was reported at the Reclamation area in Barangay 35 yesterday, killing tricycle driver Nilo Payo, 59, of Barangay 34 here.
Police Major Ramel Sarona, head of Police Station 1, said Payo went fishing when an unidentified lone gunman approached and repeatedly shot him around 12:50 p.m. yesterday.
Sarona said the victim suffered gunshot wounds in the head, body, and hand, and was found lifeless at the seashore.
Sarona said that it’s possible that the perpetrator tailed the victim, as he would go fishing in the area during his free time.
“Daw hobby niya nga mamunit kung may free time siya,” he added.
Sarona said that Payo was previously jailed for murder and was released from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City in 2007 through parole.
He said they are looking into grudges or revenge as possible motives in the incident, considering the victim’s previous case which happened here.
“Basi bala may naka-away man siya prior to the incident, or puwede man sa kaso niya dati,” the station commander added.
Last Friday, Bryan Diaz, 41, of Barangay Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental, was also killed in front of his boarding house in Barangay Estefania.
Diaz, a barber, was sitting on his motorcycle and playing games on his cellular phone when an unidentified lone assailant on a motorcycle suddenly arrived and shot him in the head.
Police recovered from the scene a fired bullet of .380-caliber ammunition.
Police Major Ritchie Gohee, head of Police Station 4, said that Diaz is the cousin of Jezrel Diaz, an alleged drug personality of Silay City who went viral online after he went naked during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Mambulac on Oct. 30.
Despite his cousin’s link to illegal drugs, Gohee said that the victim had no record of illegal drugs here and in Silay City.
However, Gohee said that Bryan had previous cases for rape and two counts of sexual assault.
He was arrested in May 2021 in Silay City. But he was released a year later after the cases were dismissed since the victim already migrated abroad, Gohee said.
Police have no lead yet on the motive of the killing, but they are probing if it could be linked to Bryan’s previous cases.
Gohee said they have a copy of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera showing the fleeing perpetrator. However, his face was covered with a helmet, so it was difficult for the police to identify him.
