CEBU City Police Office (CCPO) investigators are looking at several motives behind the murder of former Cebu City assistant prosecutor Mary Ann Castro.
Police are focusing on Castro’s possible links to illegal drugs, her job as a prosecutor in Masbate Province and her personal conflicts.
CCPO Director Royina Garma told Superbalita Cebu she received information that the 49-year-old Castro was involved in the illegal drug trade, although Castro’s name was not on any drug watch list of the Philippine National Police.
But Castro, Garma said, had affairs with personalities engaged in drug trafficking.
“It had become public knowledge that Castro would intervene in drug cases. So, with that public knowledge, we could start checking if this had any connection to her death,” Garma said in Tagalog.
The police official said Castro had a relationship with SPO1 Adonis Dumpit, who was killed in a drug bust in Tagbilaran City, Bohol last year.
The controversial prosecutor had also married Leodegreco “Greco” Sanchez, the brother of former Provincial Board member Grecilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero and son of the late vice governor Greg Sanchez, in Muslim rites on Aug. 18, 2015, a day after Greco was released from a drug rehabilitation center.
The CCPO will also coordinate with the Masbate police, as there were reports about Castro’s controversial actions in the province.
The CCPO will form a special investigation task group to look into her death.
Senior Insp. Eduardo Sanchez, the Abellana Police Station chief, said they were checking security cameras near the crime scene.
Police will also check the dashcam inside Castro’s car, as it may have captured the gunman’s face.
Castro reportedly had just had dinner with friends in a mall when she was ambushed on Escario St. on Thursday night, Jan. 17.
Senior Inspector Sanchez believed there was a person, acting as spotter, who monitored Castro’s movements inside the mall and followed her after she left.
A witness told police the gunman was on a motorcycle. After shooting Castro several times, the prosecutor lost control of her car, which crashed into a fence.
The gunman shot the prosecutor again.
Five empty shells from a .45 pistol were recovered by the Scene of the Crime Operatives. The slugs pierced the left side of Castro’s neck and jaw.
Senior Inspector Sanchez believed the gunman was a professional hitman.
“Maayo mogamit sa armas ang gunman (The gunman knew how to use a firearm),” he said.
Personnel from the Cebu City Emergency Medical Services tried to revive Castro, whose vital signs were zero when they arrived at the scene.
Senior Insp. Sanchez also denied allegations they had no intention of bringing Castro to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Zaballero, Castro’s former sister-in-law, said that although they may not have had the best relationship, she was still saddened and shocked by her death.
“Nobody deserves to die like that. I offer my sincere condolences to her bereaved family, especially her children,” Zaballero told SunStar Cebu.
In February 2017, Zaballero filed a string of criminal complaints against Castro before the Department of Justice. She sought Castro’s dismissal from service for alleged abuse of authority, misconduct, immorality, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service in the performance of her duty as a public prosecutor.
This followed Castro’s move to annotate some of Greco’s properties. The couple had separated after two months of marriage.
In April 2016, after suing him and his live-in girlfriend Maricel Raffinan Gregory for concubinage, Castro filed a petition in court seeking her appointment as administrator of Greco’s properties worth more than P100 million.
Greco, in his reply to the concubinage complaint filed by Castro, said Castro was “not my legal wife” because his previous marriage to Virginia Magnase had not been annulled. He said it was Castro who had arranged their marriage in Muslim rites.
Since then, Castro and Zaballero had taken turns filing cases against each other.
The latest was a string of administrative complaints Castro lodged against Zaballero before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Zaballero, though, was cleared of grave abuse of authority by the anti-graft office, which cited lack of substantial evidence in 2017.
“It is true that we had disagreements that resulted in the filing of several cases against each other. However, her marriage to my brother was annulled, which put to rest issues regarding her claim over my family’s properties,” Zaballero said.
The former PB member stressed that her family had not heard from Castro after the latter was transferred to Masbate.
“As far as I was concerned, everything was okay. Whatever issues we had against each other were brought before the courts because we believed in the judicial processes and rule of law. I sincerely hope her family finds justice,” Zaballero added.
In a related development, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu and Cebu City chapters urged authorities to thoroughly investigate Castro’s killing.
In separate press statements, the IBP Cebu and Cebu City chapters condemned the act of violence against Castro, whom they described as one of the “respected” lady lawyers in Cebu.
The Commission on Human Rights 7 also said it would create a team to investigate Castro’s murder.
Castro’s remains were shipped to her hometown in Clarin, Misamis Occidental at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18. From AYB of Superbalita Cebu / KAL & RTF, JKV