P50,000 bounty for killers of Kidapawan tourism exec

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco on Wednesday put up a P50,000 reward for the arrest of the killers of the city tourism officer.

Gantuangco said the money will be taken from his own pocket.

"Our City Government is bereft of funds for cash rewards. That's why I will get the money from my own funds," he said.

He, however, will seek help from the City Council of Kidapawan to increase the cash reward so that the killers of Kidapawan City tourism officer Marie Fe Sison Geronga-Pame would be placed behind bars, soon.

The cash incentive was raised on the day Pame was laid to her final resting place in Kidapawan City.

Police are studying at least four angles in Pame’s murder.

"As we dig deeper our probe, we have gathered so much information which would help us pin down the suspects," said Kidapawan City Police Director Renante Cabico.

Cabico, however, was certain the killing was not work-related.

The possible "mastermind," according to Gantuangco, is "somebody close to the victim" who has already fled the city.

"This person hired killers to silence Pame. He is nowhere to be found," the mayor said.

On September 4, Pame was killed by men riding-in-tandem while she was on board a passenger tricycle on her way to her office at the City Hall.

A week before her death, she received threats from the "mastermind."

The death threats are stored in the victim's mobile phones, the police said.