On the night of September 14, 2022, the quiet barangay of Calumpang in Estancia, Iloilo, was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When authorities arrived at the scene, they found a white SUV crashed in a ditch.

Inside and around the vehicle were the bodies of three young and successful businessmen: 28-year-old John Paul “JP” Bosque, a celebrated entrepreneur; his close friend and business partner, 26-year-old Chrysler Floyd Fernandez; and their associate, 28-year-old Mark Clarence Libao.

Miraculously, a fourth man, the driver of the SUV, Jevron Parohinog, had survived the ambush without a scratch. His harrowing account of a roadside attack would be the initial story.

But as the investigation deepened, his narrative began to crumble, revealing a complex web of debt, conflicting stories, and a justice system that would ultimately fail the victims and their grieving families.

The initial story, as told by the lone survivor Parohinog, was a terrifying tale of a random act of violence.

He claimed that while they were driving, two unidentified men on the side of the road flagged them down. JP Bosque, he said, knew the men, so he stopped the vehicle.

An argument erupted, and one of the men pulled out a gun, taking the lives of his three friends in a brutal, cold-blooded execution.

Parohinog claimed he had managed to escape by crashing the SUV into a ditch and fleeing into the darkness. He also told police that the victims were carrying a staggering P7.5 million in cash, which was now missing.

This narrative, however, began to fall apart almost immediately. The families of the victims, particularly JP Bosque’s fiancée, Veronica Dizon, came forward with a story that was in direct contradiction to Parohinog’s.

They claimed that far from being a friend in good standing, Parohinog was deeply in debt to the victims.

Veronica alleged that Parohinog owed her fiancé, JP, P7 million and the other victim, Floyd, P3 million. They were not on their way to a business deal, she insisted; they were on their way to collect a debt.

The forensic evidence further dismantled Parohinog’s story. The autopsy report revealed details that his account of a simple shooting could not explain. The victims had not only been shot multiple times, but they had also been brutally beaten. They had bruises on their bodies, and one of them had a black eye.

This suggested a prolonged and personal struggle, not a quick roadside ambush. The position of the bodies and the lack of bullet holes inside the vehicle also led investigators to believe that the crime had not occurred at the location where the SUV was found, but that the scene had been staged.

Suspicion quickly and intensely focused on the lone survivor. Parohinog, who had initially been treated as a traumatized witness, was now the primary person of interest. But the investigation that followed was a case study in procedural failures and jurisdictional squabbles.

Parohinog, now constantly flanked by his lawyer, refused to surrender his cellphone to investigators, a crucial piece of evidence that could have corroborated or contradicted his story. The police, despite their strong suspicions, struggled to build a solid case against him.

Frustrated by the slow pace of the investigation, the families and local politicians put immense pressure on the authorities.

Eventually, the Philippine National Police (PNP) filed a complaint for multiple murder against Parohinog and ten other individuals.

But the case they presented to the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office was, by the prosecutor’s own account, a complete mess.

In a scathing resolution issued in December 2022, the prosecutor dismissed the case, citing a “dearth of evidence.”

They pointed out that the PNP had failed to establish any link or conspiracy between the 11 accused individuals, who didn’t even know each other. Parohinog’s initial confession, which had been obtained without a lawyer present, was deemed inadmissible.

The police had failed to provide any direct evidence placing the accused at the scene of the crime, and their motive of robbery and debt was dismissed as mere “theory.”

A motion for reconsideration filed by the families was also dismissed. A year after the brutal “Estancia Massacre,” the case is now tragically on the verge of going cold.

There are no active suspects, no new leads, and no ongoing investigation. Jevron Parohinog, the lone survivor and the man at the center of a web of debt and suspicion, remains free, his story never having been truly tested in a court of law.

For the families of JP, Floyd, and Mark, the quest for justice has been met with a wall of silence and a failed system, leaving them to grieve not only the loss of their loved ones but also the loss of any hope for accountability.