February 21, 10:45a.m., it’s just another Saturday morning in Ultra, Pasig. All members of the RP muay thai team are attending a sports science seminar in the athlete’s dorm except for 3 RP team members (Eugene Toquero, Ryan Jakiri, Coycoy Alumno) who has to stay at the muay thai Central Gym to teach some students. The President of Muay Thai Association of the Philippines, Sir Robert Valdez was also in the gym. He’s in his office located at a corner near the front entrance of the gym. The students have just finished their warm up routine when they heard three successive gunshots emanating from Sir Robert’s office. At first they thought that it’s just the sound of a large piece of glass that shattered. One teenage female student was standing a few feet from the office went to closer to check what was the source of the sound. She then saw some blood flowing on the floor and asked, “Bakit may dugo?” (Why is there some blood?). Suddenly, a man went out running from the office brandishing a .45 caliber pistol. It was Sonny “SB” Sumales, a former RP muay thai team member and a member of the elite Philippine Army Rangers. He dashed outside the gym to the open bleachers of the Ultra Football field. He fired several rounds to the air, presumably to scare off the guards assigned in the area. Inside the gym, the students and instructors all fled to safety. Eugene and some students ran to the backdoor entrance, while Coycoy and Ryan and the rest of the students locked themselves inside the toilet. When the students that he’s with are safely away from the gym, Eugene got hold of a lead pipe and bravely went back inside the gym to check on Sir Robert. He saw a gruesome sight. The MAP President is lying in a pool of his own blood. His face is so covered in bloody red that it is unrecognizable, leading Eugene to believe that he was shot in the head.
Coycoy and Ryan went out of their hiding place and ran to the Athlete’s Dorm for help. Coycoy’s brother, Billy Alumno, a policeman and Head Coach of the RP muay thai team, responded and took his service firearm. Eugene immediately ran to the guards stationed at the Department of Education. The guards unashamedly said, that Ultra is not in their jurisdiction. Billy’s wife Michele and their daughter are staying in their room which is just a few meters from Sir Robert’s office. She entered the backdoor entrance of the office to check the source of the gunshots and saw Sir Robert’s blood soaked body lying on the floor near the front door. She immediately covered the eyes of her daughter and ran for safety.
Minutes later, members of the Pasig City SWAT team from the police station in front of DepEd arrived in the crime scene and secured the perimeter. Billy together with the SWAT and other policemen scoured the bleachers and all the offices under it searching for Sumales. Unfortunately, he has already escaped.
11:20a.m. , me and my daughter are on our way to her Kumon Class. We’re already at Julia Vargas Ave., which is just less than 1km from Ultra, when my mobile phone rang. It was Jay Alcantara, a fellow muay thai kru. He broke to me the appalling news. Sir Robert was shot in the gym and was brought to a nearby hospital. He fears that Sir Robert is already dead on arrival. Still in shock, I dropped my daughter to her Kumon Class and immediately proceeded to Ultra.
At the gym, two policemen were securing the scene of the crime. I introduced myself as an officer of MAP and showed my ID. They allowed me to enter Sir Robert’s room. What I saw, is so surreal. A pool of blood is splattered on the floor near the front door entrance of the President’s office. The blood has already solidified that I thought its human flesh. Sir Robert’s office table was moved out of its place, apparently pushed by him when he tried to run towards the door. Large drops of blood are on the office table, on the white ceramic floor and then on the front door. Signs that Sir Robert was shot while sitting beside his table and tried to call for help. He fell from the bullet wounds before reaching the front door.
I then headed to the Athlete’s Dorm to check on the RP team. On the way, I saw Michele and her daughter sitting on the Oval Track’s grand stand. She narrated about hearing the gun shots and seeing Sir Robert lying on the floor. It is Michele who first told me that the gunman who did this heartless murder is Sonny Sumales. I am aware that Sumales have some issues against Sir Robert but I didn’t know that it will lead to this. Sumales and I are on very good terms and in fact, he was my cornerman when I fought in muay thai last August. In fact, we greeted each other just the night before he did this crime.
Ajarn Pudpadnoy, the Thai Coach of the RP team, fetched me at the Grand Stand and accompanied me to the athlete’s dorm. I advised the rest of the team to stay put in the dorm and as much as possible, not to go at the gym because it is enclosed for being a scene of the crime. Ajarn and I then proceeded to The Medical City in Ortigas Ave. where Sir Robert was brought.
At the entrance of the Emergency Room of Medical City, Kru Billy was sitting on the pavement, shirtless and his head bowed. When he saw us, he gestured that Sir Robert’s gone. Just then, Ate Grace, Sir Robert’s wife went out of the Emergency Room and approached me. She has not yet finished what she has to say, I instantaneously embraced her. With the loss of a friend, a big brother and a mentor, I could not hold back and cried at the shoulder of Ate Grace. I think I cried in the same manner and outburst when I lost my mother two years ago.
Ate Grace led us to the room where Sir Robert was brought. Inside, his lifeless body was lying covered by a blanket on a hospital bed. Sticky blood still dripping from the gunshot wounds onto the floor. A very brave woman, Ate Grace showed me all of Sir Robert’s wounds. Two bullets found its target in the upper arm area. The third and fatal shot hit Sir Robert’s side, just under the arm pit. This bullet pierced his heart.
Everybody in the room, Sir Zapata (another coach of the RP team), Sir Billy, Sir Roy (former RP team member and now member of the elite Special Action Force), Ajarn Pudpadnoy and I are all staring blankly at Sir Robert’s blood soaked body. Sir Billy was asking Sir Robert, why did he left us…with so many plans in line…with so many dreams unfulfilled…all of which is the growth of muay thai and for the welfare of the athletes.
Ate Grace walked into the room and asked me a favor. She has no money to settle the hospital bills. If she can’t pay, we will not be able to bring out Sir Robert’s body. Without a moment’s hesitation, I took out my credit card and we headed for the cashier. The bill totaled Php28,000, a small price to repay a man whom I look up to as one of my mentors.
Another dilemma presented itself to Ate Grace. Islamic rites (Sir Robert is a Muslim) dictates that the dead be buried before sunset, while the NBI want to do an autopsy. Her mind was cleared when actor Robin Padilla, a blood brother of Sir Robert, came. Robin explained that Sir Robert can be buried the following day so the autopsy can be done, as long as the body will not be embalmed. The challenge now is to find a funeral home with a freezer. Fortunately, Heritage Park has one and its not too far from Medical City, from Ultra and from Maharlika, Taguig where a Mosque is located.
Then another and much bigger challenge came. How will Ate Grace tell her three children, aged between 13 and 10, that their beloved father is already dead. Mercilessly killed by a man who he has helped in countless ways. All three children arrived around 2p.m. , still oblivious about the fate of their father. The middle child, Robert Jr. was still smiling at her mom and looked very happy to see her. Trying to fight her emotions, Ate Grace informed her children that their father has just died. But with all strength that she can muster, she bravely told them that life would still go on for them. That the dreams their father has planned for them would continue. She will find a job and all of the children would keep on studying. She reminded her kids all of the lessons their father has thought them. At that moment, Ate Grace is the portrait…the personification…the epitome of a woman’s strength.
At around 3p.m., Sir Robert’s body was transferred to Heritage Park in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. He was put in a freezer while we waited for the forensic team from NBI to arrive for the autopsy. At around 7p.m., the NBI has finished their findings. Sir Robert was shot at close range, at no more than 3 feet away. Two bullets ripped through his left upper arm, just below the deltoid area, and penetrated his torso. One bullet punctured his chest while another found it’s mark in the liver. The third and most fatal shot entered just below the armpit and pierced through his heart.
Collecting and comparing the accounts of Ryan Jakiri, Eugene Toquero, Michele, NBI’s finding and my own observation of the crime scene, here perhaps, how the cold blooded murder was carried out and what is the motive for this senseless crime.
Knowing that there are students inside the gym, Sumales might have entered through the lower entrance of the bleacher and went up the stairs to the Sir Robert’s office. He entered the office through the unfinished conference room which is adjacent to the President’s office. The door from the conference room is just beside Sir Robert’s office table. Sir Robert is talking to a Muslim brother on his mobile phone when Sumales entered the room and fired three successive shots. Sir Robert is holding the mobile phone using his left hands, which is why the first 2 bullets hit the upper arm. The person whom Sir Robert was talking to heard the gunshot and heard him uttered “aaaakkk” in a very guttural manner. Sir Robert dropped the phone and tried to make his way to the front door to call for help. He fell down before reaching the door.
Sumales is jokingly called as a lunatic by his team mates for making statements that are often nonsense. He is in love with another RP team member and 2005 SEA Games Gold Medalist Cristina Custodio, who is just half Sumales’ age. Sumales is wooing Cristina to the point of harassing her that the pretty lass’ parents sought the help of Sir Robert. Last week, Sir Robert and Sir Billy talked to Sumales and told him to stop harassing Cristina. This might have led Sumales to snap and carry out this gruesome murder.
Sir Robert has told me that he has made a lot of enemies and some of whom have made threats to his life. I never thought that he will be killed for a reason so insignificant that its senseless by someone whom he has helped before. It was Sir Robert who recommended Sumales to the Army Ranger school in Camp Capinpin.
At around 11p.m., we brought Sir Robert’s body to the Blue Mosque in Maharlika Road, Taguig where his body will be consecrated in Islamic rites for burial at 11a.m. the following day. A few minutes later, Beck, Ajarn Pudpadnoy and I headed home pondering on the future of three young and innocent children who will grow up without a father, contemplating on the burden left to a wife who has to raise her children alone and worried about the future of the Philippine Muay Thai team who has lost a leader.
