DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 July) – The family of Amierkhan P. Mangacop, the 19-year-old student who was killed in a shootout at a bar in Davao City last Saturday, said the victim was not involved in the scuffle as he was already at home sleeping when it broke out and he only came to the bar to pick up his cousin.
In a statement posted on the Facebook page “Justice for Amier Mangacop” created by his family, friends, and supporters, Mangacop got out of bed after receiving a call from his cousin, asking him to be taken home from Lugar Café and Bar at Corner V. Mapa and J. Camus Extension Streets as he was afraid to go home alone.
“Being a good and loving cousin that he was, he immediately complied,” it read.
It said Mangacop woke up his cousins and left their aunt’s house “not knowing what fate awaited him.”
Upon arriving at the bar, it said there was already an ongoing “commotion involving other people,” including the suspect, Dr. Marvin Rey Andrew R. Pepino, 31, a doctor employed as non-uniformed personnel of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Davao.
Unlike Pepino who brought a gun and was drinking in a public place, the family disputed the claims that Mangacop and his cousins came to the bar “drunk or high.”
“Amierkhan was kind, obedient and a loving son. He didn’t have any vice; he disliked drinking liquor and hated the smell of cigarette smoke,” the Facebook post said, adding that he should not have gone to the bar “had his cousin not asked to be fetched.”
The suspect was the son of the late Maj. Gen. Marvin Manuel Pepino, who served as director of the Cybercrime Investigation Office of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
Col. Albert Lupaz, Davao City Police Office director, told reporters in a press conference on Monday that Pepino, who was already intoxicated at the time of the incident, was forced to pull out his gun to defend himself from the assailants who allegedly mauled him after he attempted to pacify the commotion.
The Mangacop family said they seek justice for Amierkhan who died in the hands of an “intoxicated PNP non-uniformed personnel” who brutally shot his victim seven times.
Mangacop was taken to the Davao Doctors Hospital but failed to reach the hospital alive, attending physicians said.
A complaint for murder against Pepino was filed by police authorities before the Office of City Prosecution on Monday. If the prosecutors find probable cause, a criminal case will be filed in court.
“Dr. Pepino went to a bar to drink and brought his gun with him. So even if Amier was not there that night, someone might have still been killed—it could be someone else’s cousin, son, or worst seven people might have been shot by the seven bullets fired,” the Mangacop family added.
It said “guns and liquor are a deadly combination.”
The family said that the victim, second in a brood of six, “had many beautiful dreams for himself and his family.”
“He loved to tinker and repair cars and dreamt that one day he would be able to build his own car detailing and repair shop. But that dream will remain a dream… forever,” the family said.
The family questioned why police personnel were allowed to drink inside the bars despite an administrative circular issued by former Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año “banning them from drinking in bars, nightclubs, and in other public places.”
“Are gun owners allowed to just bring their guns anywhere and everywhere, especially in bars, nightclubs, and other public drinking places? Or are our bars slowly becoming like the schools of America?” it added. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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