chandmerizameen.blogspot 23.04.2014
A British man who opened a dive shop in the Philippines after falling in love with the country and moving there two years ago has been shot dead by an employee on the island where he lived.
The family of Tony Gilchrist, 35, said he cared deeply about the Philippines and its people and had thrown himself into distributing thousands of pounds worth of aid which had been raised in the UK following the typhoon which devastated parts of the Philippines five months ago.
He was shot four times in the chest and twice in the head on Saturday, allegedly by a security guard who he had dismissed after the man turned up drunk for a second time. Local police were questioning a man after making an arrest yesterday.
The shooting happened at Fish Buddies, a scuba diving shop which Gilchrist owned on the small island of Malapascua off the northern tip of Cebu province.
Gilchrist's brother, James, who arrived with another brother, Stephen, on Monday to identify Gilchrist's body and bring it home following a postmortem, said he was "a wonderful person" who had died in a "beautiful, idyllic place" he had loved.
"My brother was an incredibly compassionate person who cared deeply about the Philippines," he told the Guardian, recalling his relief efforts after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last November, killing thousands and devastating communities.
"When it hit he hired a bus and was shipping aid back and forth. We managed to raise over £10,000. He went to Cebu and brought lots of provisions, which he then ferried on a boat which he had hired.
"It was really incredible what he did, with bandits trying to steal it and so many other things going on.
"He made sure he went to the most remote parts where help was needed and brought chainsaws so he could clear jungle. He was a wonderful person who cared about the people here and lived in this beautiful idyllic place."
Gilchrist, originally from Staines in Middlesex, previously worked in local government in Hounslow, London, and at other times as a baker and bus driver. He fell in love with the Philippines while travelling around the world. The brothers have spoken to an eyewitness who told them what happened on Saturday.
Stephen Gilchrist said: "The hard truths of this tragedy are that my brother was let down by a member of his community, a community that he had done so much for.
"The Philippines have lost an expat who loved their country and my family have lost a son, brother, uncle and friend to what seems a meaningless unprovoked murder."
A Foreign Office spokesman said the department was providing consular assistance to the family.
The alleged shooter was named in local news reports as Melchor Alciso Jr.
The Gilchrist family have been unhappy by the speed with which the local officials have sought to downplay the incident and insist that it would not impact on the tourism industry.
The local municipality's mayor, Augusto Corro, was reported to have described the killing as an isolated incident and claimed that it would not affect the tourism industry.
"It is unfortunate that this incident happened at a time when the island was brim-filled with tourists during Holy Week," he said.
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