Sagada town PUJ driver shot dead;kid unhurt

By Gina Dizon

BESAO, Mountain Province --  Jeepney driver TaynoSaturnino ‘Elmo’ Panoyo, 44, of BangaanSagada did not know he was going to get killed on the day his vehicle was hired.

Reports from Insp. Clayton Estangki of Besao police station revealed an unidentified man hired Panoyo’s jeep in Bangaan, Sagada to the town center around 5 p.m. of Oct. 30.

Upon reaching Poblacion,  the man instructed Panoyo to proceed to Besao, Elmo’s nine-year-old child told police.

From Sagada Poblacion, Besao is around 10 km away.

Panoyo’s son that evening accompanied his father drive the man from Bangaan to Sagada towards Besao.

Along the road above Lake Danum, the man told Panoyo to stop so he would urinate.

He came back and shot Panoyo in different parts of his body.

Police recovered seven bullet shells in the crime scene.

The assailant fled and police reports said the bleeding Panoyo managed to drive 300 meters from the crime scene towards Besao till the vehicle turned upside down along the way.

Both father and child managed to get out of the vehicle and hid in the bushes waiting for some help.

A jeep bound to Besao came by and stopped to check the upturned
vehicle. 

The driver brought Panoyo to the Besao District Hospital but he was dead on arrival 6:30 p.m. of the same day.
           

Police here ruled out robbery as no belonging of  the victim  was found missing  including his cell phone found intact in his possession.

Police are still investigating the cause of Panoyo’s death and identity of the assailant.