One less special forces guy around

CEBU, Philippines - A retired member of a US special forces branch succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body after he was gunned down by an assailant in front of his rented house in Sitio Poo, Barangay Balud, Dalaguete town, past 5 p.m. Thursday.
Stephen Ray Gornto, 53, married to Dahlia Gornto, of Tacosalma, Tarlac, was killed instantly after being shot several times.
He was rushed to the Julio Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital in Barangay Poblacion but was declared dead on arrival.
For now police are eyeing personal grudge as the motive behind the killing as Gornto had a fistfight with British national Andrew Featherstonehaugh, 53, of Barangay Manangal last week.
“We are not pinpointing Featherstonehaugh but he was out of the country since Monday, which also added to our suspicion,” Inspector Rico Emperwa, Dalaguete police chief, said adding that the wife of Featherstonehaugh was also no longer around when they conducted a follow-up investigation.
Just before he was shot, Gornto was standing outside his rented house waiting for a car dealer representative for a business transaction when the assailant arrived on board a Yamaha Mio motorcycle and shot the victim several times.
Witnesses said the assailant man was wearing helmet, short cargo pants and a white sweatshirt at the time.




Emperwa said that assailant speed off towards Argao town after the incident.
Scene of the Crime Operatives of the Cebu Provincial Police Office inspected the scene and found 13 empty shells and a slug of unknown caliber.
Police said the way of the killing was executed, it appears to have been done by a hired killer.
Gornto’s cadaver was taken to the Lagahid Funeral Homes in Alcoy town for autopsy.
Personal grudge
Emperwa told The FREEMAN that Gornto had a fistfight with Featherstonehaugh at Charito’s Dalaguete Bar and Grill in Barangay Poblacion in which Featherstonehaugh suffered injury in his right ear after he was allegedly hit with a sharp object by Gornto.
Before the fight both had an argument when they were both drunk.
But Gornto reportedly denied that he hit Featherstonehaugh with anything, he reasoned that Featherstonehaugh accidentally injured himself with his fingers during their fight.
The two later agreed to settle the matter at the police station and admitted a miscommunication had caused the fight.
Emperwa further said that Gornto arrived in Cebu two months ago and said that it was unusual that he could have an enemy in a short span of time.
“Kitang mga Pinoy di man kaayo ta manginlabot if dunay foreigner nga manuyo unya ang mga foreigner dili man sad ingon ana nga ma-involve na og lunod-patay nga kalagot bisan duha pa lang ka buwan,” Emperwa explained.
In Dalaguete, Gornto stayed in rented a house owned by Christian Akse while Featherstonehaugh has his own house in the town.
“Kanang naay mga event dali ra kaayo na siya maka-extend og monetary support like P300,000,” the police chief said.
It was the sudden disappearance of the couple that intrigued the police.
The Provincial Intelligence Branch sent a team yesterday to assist the Dalaguete police in the investigation.
Superintendent Rodulfo Albotra Jr., PIB chief, said they are now eyeing local gun-for-hire personalities. They are also looking into different angles in their investigation which he refused to disclose as of yet. —/BRP (FREEMAN)

Personal grudge eyed: Ex-US soldier shot dead in Dalaguete | Cebu News, The Freeman Sections, The Freeman | philstar.com

 

Thanks for sharing Larry , and well said Wrye , just hard to imagine men over 50 getting into fist fights , utter childish stupidity , and the vindictiveness of some people has no bounds , if I ever drink with anybody and I notice they get aggressive or stupid it is the last time that I bend the elbow with them , and not because I am scared , because I just can't stand that sh*t.

Tony

 

I hear ya. I can think of a half dozen or so good friends who get aggressive and stupid after the second beer. These are guys who are really great guys until that third beer. You get to know who they are and stay clear but I remember one day when I was drinking with 2 such individuals at the same table. Thats when the trouble REALLY starts brewing and its time to go to another bar.

 

This is simple. Don't screw with people, especially if you don't know who you are messing with. There is nothing more dangerous than someone who has nothing to lose (or those who are crazy enough to perceive they have nothing to lose.) It's a race to the bottom and you don't want to play that game. In the Philippines, money is scarce and life is cheap. This is true for both the person making the hit and the person being hit. This is especially true of foreigners who have no power base here.

I would think that if you are living a possibly high risk lifestyle, then you should probably get a place in power neighborhoods and get friends in high places. Grease some palms if you have to. Maybe that still wouldn't work, but power and status is the only thing that people from top to bottom fear and respect here.

Personally I try to do even little things. I try to tip everyone well and don't b*tch. I err on the side of flipping on a smile rather than launching into a rant. As often as I'm able, I try to pay pedicabs well, tip security guards and just generally be a nice guy. Even if it's fake, I get a lot of people willing to help out or waving at me even in the most unexpected of times.

If you can't get along well with the country even in the most trying times, you shouldn't be here. It won't work out well for you.

Also, the only time I have felt like I could be in danger is when hanging out with other foreigners. Some people attract problems and radiate bad vibes. when I'm out with these people, I always have a good eye on my surroundings. And being with the wrong locals can be a problem also. The worst situation I have been in is when a local was with was antagonizing a group of people in a situation I could have easily got out on my own.

Of course, drinking is among the most dangerous of activities. If you are drinking and don't have 100% control of yourself when doing so, make sure you are drinking at YOUR bar with YOUR people. I sometimes drink too much myself, and I make sure that if I feel it might be one of those nights that I'm at one of only a handful of bars. If the wrong people are hanging out at one of my bars, then I simply leave and go to one of the others.

"Men must either be caressed or else annihilated; they will revenge themselves for small injuries, but cannot do so for great ones; the injury therefore that we do to a man must be such that we need not fear his vengeance."
- Niccolo Machiavelli

Law 19: Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
- Robert Greene

 

So in paragraph 1, the police are viewing the motive as a personal grudge because of fisticuffs with a named guy.

In paragraph 2, they say they are not pinpointing the same guy that they named.

In paragraph 3, the two of them had already settled their dispute in the presence of the police.

So, as their drunken difference was already known to the police, it defies logic that the Brit should further implicate himself in such an obvious way, and at such personal cost considering that he owns property. Moreover, the Brit and his wife appear to have been out of the country when the shooting happened. Maybe the ex-SF man had made threats towards them and they decided to get away for a while, who knows ? Lots of maybes, more questions than answers. But in order to look like efficient investigators and get a result, the finger of blame will probably point at the most convenient soft option, as in the Ellah-Joy case.

Now go further into the report. He was shot outside of his house while waiting for a pre-arranged meeting for a business transaction. Business transaction involving locals and foreigners money ? Now there's a motive that should be ringing the loudest alarm bells with the police. As the Brit was out of the country, it is highly unlikely that he would know precisely where and when this guy would be waiting. One opinion offered by the police is outrageous, in that they don't feel he could have made any enemies having only been here for two months. So two months, in their view, is long enough to get embroiled in business deals but not long enough to make enemies. Business and enemies go hand in glove here. What a load of bovine excrement.

....... and just in case anyone is having difficulty, in this land of perfectly spoken English, with the British guys surname, which comes from Yorkshire and Northumberland in northern England, Featherstonehaugh is pronounced FANSHAW.

 

And yet the Brits and Ozzies make fun of AMERICAN English!



Larry

 

Just a side note Larry , Ozzies don't speak English they speak Ozzy

 

What does that event have to say in relation to the police-foreigner start up b.s. group? Could the assassins be the same ones who murdered the Dumaguete lawyer in that general area a couple of months ago?