Home 
A month before the robbery and shooting of the former vice mayor and his wife in Barili town, family members noticed motorcycle-riding men would stop outside their house.
The unusual attention was reported to them by laborers working on the house fence, said Maria Lianne Ponsica, 23 and eldest child of former Barili vice mayor Luisito Ponsica and wife Gina.
But the family didn’t pay any attention.
About 8 p.m. on Wednesday, two unidentified men shot dead Gina and wounded Luisito outside their home in barangay Mantolongon, Barili before taking Gina’s bag containing close to P500,000.
They joined their two other companions who were waiting nearby on separate motorcycles.
The couple came from Cebu City to withdraw money that would be used to buy copra at the town proper on Thursday, a market day.
The couple was into buy and sell of copra.
Robbery remains the clearest motive in the Nov. 5 crime but police said they were looking into other angles.
Police investigators visited Luisito at the Cebu Doctors' Hospital in Cebu City.
But the businessman, who survived three gunshot wounds, said he didn't recognize the masked holduppers because the area was dark.
The businessman was released from the hospital yesterday.
“He can't talk much, perhaps because of the recent trauma, “ said Senior Supt. Jesus Gaquing, provincial police director.
Gaquing said it was too early to say whether the heist was pulled by local amateurs or professional criminals.
Luisito said he had no no known enemy and would usually go out at 4 a.m. to jog.
He said politics wasn't a factor because he had no plan to run for office in 2010.
Chief Insp. Alexander Soledad, Barili police chief, urged witnesses to come forward and help the investigation.
A month earlier, laborers noticed unidentified men stopping by the waiting shed near the Ponsica's house or driving by, and staring at the hous, said daughter Lianne.
But the laborers dismissed it as s curiousity.
Family members dismissed talk that the robbery could have been an inside job or politically motivated.
Lianne said they couldn't think of anyone who hated their parents.
“Wa jud! Ako mama kusog man tood mangasaba kon kasab-anan, babaon kaayo pero ana ra pud nga tayma. After ana wa ra, di magdumot ako mama, ug naanad na ang mga tawo ug trabahante ana. Siguro naay manluod but ang magdumot wa gyud,
(No way. My mother would scold workers who deserved it. She would nag but only at that instance. After that, she'd forget all about it. The workers and other people got used to that. There may have been people who resented her but not to the point of holding a grudge).”
Lianne said some politicians had urged visiting her father urging him to run for office.
One of them, she said, was Marlon Garcia, brother of Gov. Gwen Garcia, who planned to run for Barili mayor.
Family members had not to discuss funeral plans for Gina.
As eldest of the family, Lianne said she would have to take care of her three siblings and give up some of her plans, like going to Canada in February next year to work as a care giver.
Felomino Leyson, Barili's public information officer, said it was known that Luisito would withdraw money on Wednesday to prepare for market day on Thursday for buying copra at the market.
“Maayo og simple kaayo nang pagkatawo(Ponsica was a very simple and good man),” he said.
