THE cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the mastermind and gunmen in killing university president Dr. Ricardo Rotoras is now P2 million after the Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines on Tuesday, December 5, pledged another P1 million on top of the initial amount pledged by Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno.
The reward money will possibly rise even further with the City Council also contemplating adding another P500,000 to encourage witnesses with credible information to come forward.
Rotoras, on his fourth term as president of the University of Science and Technology of the Southern Philippines (USTP), was shot and killed by at least two men last Saturday, December 2, outside his home in private subdivision.
Rotoras, who was also the president of Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc), at the time of his murder.
Beginning Tuesday, the USTP community will hold a three-day wake open to the public at the USTP gymnasium.
Rotoras’ remains will be transferred from Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes to the USTP gym Wednesday, December 6, at 8 a.m.
A mass will be held precede the three-day wake.
He will be laid to rest on Friday, December 8, at the Greenhills Memorial Park in Bulua, Cagayan de Oro.
At least 112 presidents of state universities and colleges all over the country will be visiting USTP to pay their last respects to their colleague and leader in the Pasuc.
Pasuc will sponsor a mass service at 12 noon on Wednesday.
The Bukidnon State University community, Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, and the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, will also offer mass.
The Commission on Higher Education (Ched), meanwhile, designated Rosalito Quirino, chancellor of the USTP-Claveria Campus, to temporarily take over the post and obligations left by the late university president.
The Ched also approved the requested three-day suspension of classes in USTP, starting this Wednesday until December 8, so they can mourn and honor their late university president. USTP students were also advised to wear white on the said days.
Moreno asked the public's help in solving the crime.
"Akong hangyo sa mga tawo sa area (We ask the people living in the area) where the incident happened, nga kung naa silay obserbahan na mga kalihokan (that if they saw anything during) that time or even before that, please tabang pag-solve niini (please help in solving this case) by either calling up the media, even myself or the police kay nagtuo ko nga basin naay nakakita (because I believe someone has seen the crime), please help us because we want to solve this as fast as we can," Moreno said.
Moreno added that the "public's help will play a significant role in giving swift justice to Dr. Rotoras, who was a crown jewel of Mindanao." (With reports from USTP interns Mary Ross Odchigue and Crystel Ann Perpetua)