Suspect allegedly guns down neighbor over land dispute

“Bente mil ka lang ‘to… Di ka uubra sakin.”

(You are only worth P20,000. You should not go against me.)

This was the alleged threat suspect Alexander Gumapac made against  victim Marvin Mendoza who was shot to death in his house in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

According to Emil Sumangil’s Tuesday report on 24 Oras, Mendoza and his family were about to take their meal when they suddenly heard gunshots. The victim died after getting shot in the head while his wife and five-year-old son survived.

“Nakailag po ako, ‘yung anak ko po talang inano ko agad.. niyakap ko po agad kasi babalikan kami eh... nung sumigaw na po ako umalis na po sya. Nakita ko si Marvin may ano na pala…may tama,” Carmela Gugulan, the victim’s wife, said.

(I avoided getting shot and then hugged my son… He left when I shouted. I saw Marvin and he had been shot.)

Mendoza’s family said the shooting was due to a land dispute.

Before the incident, Gugulan claimed Gumapac had been slowly occupying portions of their residential area and even built pig and poultry pens on their land without their approval.

The suspect also allegedly burned their banana plants which prompted barangay officials to step in and mediate the problem.

“Tinanong po namin sa kanya kung ano dokumento nya na magpapatunay na siya yung may-ari. Ang pinakita niya sa amin ay isang tax declaration nakalagay dito na residential yung area samantalang agriculture ang pagkakaalam ko doon,” Mendoza’s aunt Ligaya Mendoza Reyes said.

(We asked him what documents did he have to prove he owned the land. He showed us a tax declaration form indicating it was a residential area. But as far as I know, it was agricultural land.)

Gugulan tearfully recalled the suspect’s alleged threat when the barangay tried to intervene in the dispute.

“Abot langit yung sakit.. sa harapan po namin ginawa… sa loob pa po ng bahay namin. Napakabait po ng taong pinatay nila,” she said.

(This is very painful for us… It happened right in front of our eyes… inside our own home. The person they killed is very kind.)

GMA News had sought Gumapac's comments on the shooting.

Barangay officials, meanwhile, refused to comment as they had turned the matter over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). — Sundy Locus/DVM, GMA News