Friday, June 01, 2007 Probe on councilor’s slay in Maitum progressing: Migs
SARANGANI officials expect a breakthrough in the coming days in the ongoing police investigation on the killing of a reelectionist councilor in Maitum town on the eve of the May 14 elections.
Sarangani Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez said police investigators led by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group are already closing in on the motive of the killing of Maitum Councilor Edwin Ramos and the identity of the suspects, who were earlier tagged as hired gunmen.
"The investigation is doing some progress but we want our investigators to dig deeper into the case. We don't want a hasty arrest (of the suspect) but a real resolution of the murder case," he said in a press conference at the Sarangani provincial capitol in Alabel town Thursday.
The 41-year-old Ramos was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in front of his house in Barangay Maguling in Maitum last May 13.
The victim was reportedly entertaining guests and supporters at around 7 p.m. at the front yard of his house when he was shot, police said.
Dominguez said he has instructed the police investigators to pursue a "good intelligence investigation that will lead to conviction" of the suspects.
He cited the investigation on the murder of Maitum Mayor George Yabes in November last year that eventually led to the arrest of the suspected gunman.
Yabes, a close ally of Dominguez, was gunned down by motorcycle-riding suspects while driving several relatives around the town.
One of the arrested suspects earlier tagged Yabes' Vice Mayor Felix Reganit as the mastermind of the killing but the latter repeatedly denied the accusations.
The killing of Ramos happened a day after news reports broke out that Reganit, who had assumed as the town's mayor, would be arrested for hid alleged hand in Yabes' murder.
