BACOLOR -- Mayor Jose Maria Hizon yesterday offered a P500,000 cash reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects in the August 3 slay of Barangay Mesalipit chairman Rodrigo Lopez Tongol and two others.
Hizon, in a meeting with Pampanga Provincial police officer-in-charge Oscar Albayalde, said he is offering the reward to speed up the resolution of the case.
“This is also to expedite the dispensation of justice to the family of the victims,” he said.
Hizon, however, still did not want to comment on the motive behind the killings, but said that the “investigation should be left to the authorities.”
Tongol and Pedro Sambo Canlas, 67, and Merlito Naguit, 48, all of Madapdap Resettlement Center in Barangay Madapdap, Mabalacat City, were gunned down by motorcycle-riding-suspects along Bundagol Road past 7 p.m. Saturday.
The vehicle’s other occupants, including Tongol’s older brother Edmundo, his wife and two children were spared in the ambush.
Mabalacat City police Chief Ferdinand Perez on Monday said Special Investigation Task Group “Tongol” has been formed to identify and arrest the suspects behind the incident.
The task group, according to Albayalde, is in the process of gathering witnesses and pieces of evidence that could establish the real motive behind the ambush-slay.
Albayalde also told Sun.Star Pampanga that he will ask the joint Philippine National Police/Armed Forces of the Philippines Security Council to identify Bacolor as an “area of concern” in Pampanga. (Ric Sapnu and Chris Navarro)