Police probe into Bacolod businessman’s slay raises more questions than answers

BACOLOD, Philippines – Police are looking at two persons of interest in the killing on Wednesday, November 2, of a businessman in this city, Major Joery Puerto, chief of Police Station 8, told Rappler on Friday, November 4.

But as friends of the 53-year-old Jerry Gasendo called for justice and “a speedy resolution” to the riding-in-tandem execution of the businessman, done in broad daylight along one of Bacolod’s main highways, Puerto said the murder was “drug-related.”

The police officer told Rappler in a phone interview they suspect the slay was allegedly due to “wala nabayaran nga drug transaction (a drug transaction that had not been paid for).“ 

He also said cops had been monitoring Gasendo for some time, though he was not on any formal watch list of high-value drug personalities.

Puerto used the word “dugay” – Hiligaynon for “a long time” – but did not specify if the monitoring had gone on for months or years. 

Puerto’s allegation was in contrast to the statement of Gasendo’s classmates from Batch 1981 of the Education and Training Center School, a pilot school known for high academic standards.

“Jerry was a businessman and a father who did everything he could to raise his children singlehandedly after his wife passed away more than a decade ago. He will always be remembered as a good friend, an artist, and a great dad to his children,” the statement described the chef and owner of Lei & Jerry Pancit Palabok.

Gasendo on his Facebook personal page had a profile busy with his eatery, reunions with classmates, national elections politics, faith, and philosophy. He’s even done wholesome Tiktok with his daughters.

A DJ in a bar wrote about his generous tips and the dancing ability Gasendo shared with his equally athletic brothers, noting all three “danced like there’s no tomorrow.”

A young woman, speaking for a group, thanked him for giving them work, acting “like a second father” who patiently accepted them back whenever they strayed.

“We demand that his death will not be another statistic in the countless unsolved assassinations we’ve had in Bacolod, which just lends impunity to these murderers to go on a rampage and commit extrajudicial killings,” his classmates said.

They called on “city officials to join this appeal and send a message to the public that we will not take extrajudicial killings lightly and that these incidents are not mere isolated cases but an affront to our sensibilities as a society, as a humanity.”

Puerto said the victim was tailed by the two suspects on board a motorcycle, who caught up with him along the Araneta highway in Barangay Tangub around 1:30 pm, and then shot him several times.

He said the victim, who was also on a motorcycle, fell to the ground and sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Gasendo was brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

The suspects fled after the incident. Puerto said cops were following up two persons of interest based on the suspects’ profiles captured on CCTV footage.

Recovered from the scene were two fired cartridges from a caliber .45 pistol.

Puerto said the victim’s name popped up after the October 27 arrest of a “high-value” female suspect, who claimed her drugs came from the businessman. Yet cops had not invited the businessman for questioning. 

It was not also clear if the new information had led to tighter monitoring on the victim.

The suspect who named Gasendo was arrested in a buy-bust operation at Sharina Heights, Barangay Taculing, which led to the seizure of P680,000 ($11,615.62) worth of suspected shabu.

The suspect, a street sweeper, was reportedly on the Top 10 priority high-value individuals of the Bacolod City police.

She had allegedly sold three sachets of suspected shabu worth P30,000 ($512.48) to a cop posing as a buyer, and yielded 100 grams of suspected shabu worth P680,000, a pouch, three cell phones, and P1,100 ($18.79) in cash proceeds.

Puerto said the woman had a previous drug-related arrest in 2016 but was released two years after, following plea bargaining. She remains in police custody, facing drug complaints. – Rappler.com

$1= P58.54