INVESTIGATORS from the Victorias City Police Station are currently investigating if the two remaining escapees of the Negros Occidental District Jail (NODJ) have been involved in the murder of a security guard on the evening of July 3 at Hacienda Florencia, Barangay 18, Victorias City.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Corpuz, Victorias City police chief, said 23-year-old Francis Legada was on duty guarding a sugarcane field belonging to the Victorias Milling Company on Saturday night, July 3.
According to statements given by fellow guards during the night of the murder, Legada managed to call for backup over the radio as he was shot by unidentified individuals.
Police later arrived and found the victim lifeless. The guard's 12-gauge service shotgun along with his personal belongings were missing.
Police also recovered two empty cartridges belonging to a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.
According to Corpuz, they are finding it suspicious that Legada was alone at his guard post in the middle of the sugarcane field at that time. Furthermore, the nearest house was located at least 400 to 500 meters away from the crime scene.
The police later called Legada's security agency for an explanation and the agency replied that there were supposed to be two guards deployed in the said post. At the time of the incident, one of the guards may have been on patrol as robbery in the area was a problem.
Corpuz said he pointed out to the agency that they placed the guard in danger if they placed only one of them in the middle of the sugarcane field.
Although police are looking into possibly an ordinary robbery case, Corpuz said they are not discounting the possibility that escaped inmates Alejandro Montoya, and crime group leader Francisco Epogon may have been the ones responsible for the incident, pointing out that Montoya is a resident of the city.
Police are continuing their investigation of the case.