Saturday, May 05, 2007 Poll rivalry likely motive in murder of Sta. Fe mayoral bet Rogelio Ilustrisimo Sr.
TASK Force Ilustrisimo has substantial basis to say that the motive behind the fatal shooting of Sta. Fe mayoral aspirant Rogelio Ilus-trisimo Sr. last Wed-nesday was election-related.
Acting Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador, task force head, said the information they have gathered so far leads to the killing being linked to the May 14 elections.
Comendador, however, said they still need evidence to support this theory.
He said that Camp Crame’s directorate for investigation and detective management, which is supervising the task force, did not give them a timeframe but “we know the urgency of this case.”
On the identity of the gunman, Comendador said they now have at least five witnesses, including the two tricycle drivers who are helping the task force.
A female witness also corroborated the descriptions of the gunman given by the tricycle drivers, who helped the police come up with a cartographic sketch.
The female witness was only about seven meters away from the gunman, who shot Ilustrisimo, 59, in the head just outside the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office at the Capitol compound about 10:40 a.m. last Wednesday.
Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Simaco Labata went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regional office yesterday to say he didn’t see the gunman’s face.
Accompanied by his wife and an escort from the Office of the Regional State Prosecutor, Labata was questioned for over an hour by investigators but stood by his previous stance—he could not identify the gunman.
He confirmed that he was talking to Ilustrisimo when the latter was shot from behind. But, he said, because of Ilustrisimo’s size, he could not see the shooter standing from behind.
Reward
The Cebu Provincial Government is offering a reward of P1 million to anybody who can give information to the authorities that will lead to the arrest of the gunman and the mastermind. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. announced this in a press conference yesterday in Madridejos town in Bantayan Island.
Sanchez said they condemn the killing. “Election ra gud ni.” The reward will be taken from the intelligence funds or peace and order funds of the governor.
“This is an assault on the peace and order of the beloved Province, much more so, since this dastardly act is committed right inside the Capitol (compound). If there is anyone who would have wanted to assault the Capitol and its officials by planning and executing such a heinous crime, is certainly couldn’t have chosen a better venue for their own purposes,” Garcia said.
Garcia said they still have full faith in the “probity, integrity and the competence” of the police and the NBI.
A team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 visited Ilustrisimo’s wake in Sta. Fe town yesterday.
Replacement
They also went to the house of Ilustrisimo’s political rival, Domingo Zaspa of One Cebu party. They were entertained by Zaspa’s daughter, Delma.
CIDG 7 Chief Jorge Corpuz informed Delma that her father was invited by the task force handling the case to shed light on the investigation.
The Ilustrisimo family has chosen, Jennifer, 33, the wife of incumbent Mayor Roger Ilustrisimo, to replace the slain candidate in the mayoralty race under the Lakas-CMD party.
Roger cannot replace his father because he is already a candidate for councilor. Comelec rules prohibit him from running for another position now that the deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy has lapsed.
The slain former mayor will be buried on May 9 at 1 p.m.
The family will issue affidavits after the burial.
Like the police, Roger believes politics was behind his father’s death.
Governor Garcia lamented that there are some people who, “for utter lack of delicadeza, have taken political advantage of the grief and tragedy of the Ilustrisimo family.”
Rallies
“There’s certainly more than meets the eye on the death of my friend and who has assured me of his support and the support of the people of Sta. Fe,” Garcia said.
Despite Ilustrisimo’s death, Garcia and Sanchez with their One Cebu slate held political rallies in Madridejos and Bantayan yesterday.
Garcia said with the recommendation of Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria to put the whole Bantayan Island under Comelec control, the One Cebu party will also endorse it.
As this developed, investigators from the NBI’s Manila-based Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division (AFCCD) reported to the Central Visayas office yesterday to assist in grabbing any useable photo from the security video cameras at the Capitol.
Elfren Meneses Jr., who heads the AFCCD, and Supervising Agent Ronald Aguto, obtained a copy of the entire video footage from the office of Byron Garcia, the governor’s younger brother and the Capitol’s consultant on security.
Blurry
The digital copy will be brought to the NBI’s crime laboratory in Manila where it will be processed.
The Provincial Government spent some amount for the security cameras but the video output was “unsatisfactory.”
Photos grabbed from the video were blurry. Images would “pixelize” when magnified.
The cameras were able to take footage of two “suspicious-looking” people walking towards the area where Ilustrisimo was shot.
Seconds later, the same people were seen running away from the crime scene, slowing down to a brisk walk to mingle with the crowd and then taking the M. Velez exit.
The video also caught one person running away from the scene being followed by an armed person wearing shorts. The latter is believed to be a policeman. (JST/MBG/KNR)
