Foreigner shoots Cebu fiscal inside Palace of Justice

[InternetTough 1,397]

Here is another article about him:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-mans-fight-for-justice-reaches-bloody-end-in-the-philippines/article7651952/

 

 

PHILIPPINES

Canadian man’s fight for ‘justice’ reaches bloody end in the Philippines

JILL MAHONEY AND OLIVER MOORE

The Globe and Mail

Published 

Tuesday, Jan. 22 2013, 11:23 PM EST

Last updated 

Tuesday, Jan. 22 2013, 11:24 PM 

• 0

In 1970, John Holdridge Pope thought his war was over. The 24-year-old had deserted his U.S. Army officer training, fled to Canada and renounced his citizenship to protest the Vietnam War. But his battles didn’t end.

Instead, he bounced between provinces and became a self-styled advocate, writing letter after letter to newspapers. He was anti-Vietnam, pro-capitalism and anti-feminism. As years passed, the letters continued. In Canada and the Philippines, where he lived in retirement for several years, he kept writing, filing complaints and appealing to the media. Mr. Pope soon saw corruption all around him. The injustices, as he saw them, became innumerable.

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After years of painting himself a victim, Mr. Pope took a violent turn on Tuesday when he opened fire on his foes in a courthouse. What began as a condo-board squabble left a pediatric surgeon and his lawyer dead, a prosecutor fighting for her life and Mr. Pope himself dead, killed by officers responding to his rampage, according to a police report obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The crime shook the city of Cebu, which is now beefing up courthouse security, though there had been warnings. In one letter last year, Mr. Pope told local media to “not be surprised to see an escalation of the problems as the dying person fights for justice.”

His American relatives were nonetheless caught off-guard. Their most recent letter from him arrived a couple of weeks ago, and Mr. Pope had focused on his “greatest joy,” supporting the children of an unidentified female friend.

“There was nothing in the letter whatsoever that revealed what happened. That, to me, was a shock. He talked mainly about the children and their schooling and how they were doing, and this comes as a total surprise,” one relative said in an interview.

A portrait of Mr. Pope’s Canadian life has begun to emerge. He had citizenship, carrying, until his death, an expired Manitoba driver’s licence. He identified as a retired journalist who once worked for the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives (the party has a record of employing a man with that name briefly in the 1990s, but was not sure it was the same John Pope).

He chose the Philippines because he travelled there during college and enjoyed the people and way of life, the relative said, but he long clashed with authorities and vaguely told his family about legal troubles he feared would lead to his deportation.

Foremost among the trouble was his long-simmering fight with Dr. Reynold Rene Rafols, who once lived in the same condominium complex in Cebu City, the second-largest municipality in the country.

Mr. Pope approached Dr. Rafols, a pediatric surgeon and father of two who was president of the residents’ association, on something “crazy” and “minuscule” that wasn’t acted on, according to one local report. Mr. Pope later complained about mysterious knocks on his door and accused Dr. Rafols of harassing him. Mr. Pope would throw stones at the doctor’s townhouse, one report said. Mr. Pope was also reportedly arrested with a pistol near Dr. Rafols’s clinic last year.

“This guy, Rafols, once came to my apartment at 2 o’clock in the morning, with two armed police officers and an armed bodyguard, with their guns out, and swung a baseball bat inches from my face,” Mr. Pope told reporters during a court appearance in 2011.

As his legal difficulties mounted, Mr. Pope became convinced that the police and justice systems were corrupt and unjust. Worried that his struggle was hurting his health and frustrated by the media, he compiled the lengthy dossier about his troubles.

Mr. Pope and Dr. Rafols had been due in the Palace of Justice in Cebu City on Tuesday as part of the court proceedings to deal with one of Dr. Rafols’s complaints. Mr. Pope, one day shy of his 67th birthday, entered the courtroom and shot Dr. Rafols and his lawyer, identified as Jovian Achas. Both were shot in the head and died immediately. A photo of the aftermath shows two bodies sprawled in the small courtroom, its floor spattered with blood.

Mr. Pope then went to another room, finding and shooting Maria Theresa Calibugan Casino, an assistant city prosecutor reportedly handling one of his past cases. Ms. Calibugan Casino, 40, was shot in the neck, but remained alive in hospital Tuesday evening.

Mr. Pope then reportedly left the courtroom, searching for two other prosecutors, Oscar Capacio and Nicolas Sellon, according to the police report. He couldn’t find them before being confronted by two policemen, who shot Mr. Pope in the head, left thigh and left upper arm, the report says. Mr. Pope died in hospital.

The shooting prompted concern about safety in the courts. The report states that Mr. Pope had been frisked before entering the court, leading to questions about how he had managed to get at least one gun into the room. According to one theory, he may have carried it in a folded newspaper that was not checked by guards.

With reports from Josh Wingrove and Rick Cash

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2013 by InternetTough

[smokey 22,071]

Almost of us Kano have experienced some sort of discrimination here....If we get into trouble or want to sue somebody , good luck

 

But we all come and stay here knowing about the corruption and unfairness

 

Unlike the Fillipinos we have a passport which allows us to back to the west

 

If life here  pisses you off too much , get in a taxi and head to the airport

 

The guy was there 15 years it was HIS home  no body should be able to use deportation as a tool to get what they want.... 

[InternetTough 1,397]

 

Almost of us Kano have experienced some sort of discrimination here....If we get into trouble or want to sue somebody , good luck

 

But we all come and stay here knowing about the corruption and unfairness

 

Unlike the Fillipinos we have a passport which allows us to back to the west

 

If life here  pisses you off too much , get in a taxi and head to the airport

 

The guy was there 15 years it was HIS home  no body should be able to use deportation as a tool to get what they want.... 

Is that some kind of established fact---that someone was trying to do that to him? Pope seemed to run into a LOT of people who were conspiring against him---maybe he just had a teeming mind.

Edited January 23, 2013 by InternetTough

[Woolf 8,555]

Those interested can read Cebu Daily News

 

http://cdn.ph/index.php

 

Do not forget to read the Editorial also

[MarinePride 626]

Those interested can read Cebu Daily News

 

http://cdn.ph/index.php

 

Do not forget to read the Editorial also

I just read the editorial and came away with an old saying that is very true.

 

"Justice delayed is justice denied"

 

How true it is and it needs to be fixed.

[towboat72 820]

Seems rather ignorant that they are not checking a foreigner charged with gun possession - for guns, at a place where he is going to answer for his gun possession.

 

Oh, the irony - and stupidity.

 

BTW, guy snapped - happens.

    do you really believe that the guard had any idea why he was going in the building

[littlejohn 164]

I'm really surprised at the objective reporting from certain papers. Seems he wasn't the only one frustrated with the Justice system.

[InternetTough 1,397]

John Pope was arrested near Dr. Rafols clinic last year. He had a gun. 

 

Obviously, he was a mentally deranged stalker.

 

Someone who knew  him and worked with him in Canada, one Doug Martin, features editor of the Prince George Citizen, said that he was "...a very unhappy guy, a troubled guy. He was kind of a crazy man. He seemed like a prime candidate to pull out a gun and shoot us all. We laughed about it. Maybe we shouldn't have." The same source said that other former colleagues felt the same about him.

 

People should remember that John Pope had a Canadian history, too. 

 

I fully believe that he deserved the many charges filed against him before his murderous binge.

[towboat72 820]

Wow is it just me or is it getting hot in here?

 

I can understand both sides of the argument.

 

One thing really sticks out though I just don't think its bright to let people know you have firearms especially when its illegal. If I had any I wouldn't be announcing it to the world.

 

The other is if the Dr. really did try to assault him in his own home with armed thugs in tow. If he had shot him then I don't think anyone would be arguing about this either.

 

Sounds like he should have invested in some hidden cameras.

 

I just hope this doesn't have to much blow back on the rest of us foreigners here.

 

 

  did i some how miss the part about the dr assoulting him  did not read that in any of the storys i read

[littlejohn 164]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-mans-fight-for-justice-reaches-bloody-end-in-the-philippines/article7651952/

 

“This guy, Rafols, once came to my apartment at 2 o’clock in the
morning, with two armed police officers and an armed bodyguard, with
their guns out, and swung a baseball bat inches from my face,” Mr. Pope
told reporters during a court appearance in 2011.

 

Perhaps intimidate with bought police would be a better description. (assuming it is true of course)

Edited January 24, 2013 by littlejohn

[tokyoman 535]

If he had gone back to Canada he might have been able to get some help for his mental illness....

[RickyL 197]

Why would the police let this doctor swing a baseball at a person? The police work for doctors?

[littlejohn 164]

I haven't seen any problems with police response here in our little town but from what others have said about Cebu its hard enough to get them to come out at 2pm. I think its reasonable to believe if they came at 2am something fishy was going on.

 

Or perhaps they just got there after being called at 2pm?

[smokey 22,071]

John Pope was arrested near Dr. Rafols clinic last year. He had a gun. 

 

Obviously, he was a mentally deranged stalker.

 

Someone who knew  him and worked with him in Canada, one Doug Martin, features editor of the Prince George Citizen, said that he was "...a very unhappy guy, a troubled guy. He was kind of a crazy man. He seemed like a prime candidate to pull out a gun and shoot us all. We laughed about it. Maybe we shouldn't have." The same source said that other former colleagues felt the same about him.

 

People should remember that John Pope had a Canadian history, too. 

 

I fully believe that he deserved the many charges filed against him before his murderous binge.

 

 

John Pope was arrested near Dr. Rafols clinic last year. He had a gun. 

 

Obviously, he was a mentally deranged stalker.

 

Someone who knew  him and worked with him in Canada, one Doug Martin, features editor of the Prince George Citizen, said that he was "...a very unhappy guy, a troubled guy. He was kind of a crazy man. He seemed like a prime candidate to pull out a gun and shoot us all. We laughed about it. Maybe we shouldn't have." The same source said that other former colleagues felt the same about him.

 

People should remember that John Pope had a Canadian history, too. 

 

I fully believe that he deserved the many charges filed against him before his murderous binge.

 

 

 

maybe you should walk in his shoes before claiming you know him so well ..... my wife has a gun does that mean she is crazy 

[iam 52]

I haven't seen any problems with police response here in our little town but from what others have said about Cebu its hard enough to get them to come out at 2pm. I think its reasonable to believe if they came at 2am something fishy was going on.

 

Or perhaps they just got there after being called at 2pm?

 

 

I haven't seen any problems with police response here in our little town but from what others have said about Cebu its hard enough to get them to come out at 2pm. I think its reasonable to believe if they came at 2am something fishy was going on.

 

Or perhaps they just got there after being called at 2pm?

The police might have been off the clock and moonlighting to make some extra peso. Happens in the US also.