P.5-M reward up in hotelier’s slay

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte yesterday announced an additional P300,000 reward, bringing the total bounty to P500,000, for information leading to the arrest of the gunman in Friday’s killing of businessman and hotelier Richard King.

Duterte announced the cash bounty after conferring with local police officials on developments in the murder case.

The King family had put up an initial P200,000 reward and Duterte offered to provide the rest of the bounty.

Duterte said investigators are looking into several possibilities to establish the motive of the killing.

“It is still too early to say anything. Let the authorities look into it first,” he said.

Police said the killing could have been triggered by business rivalry or personal grudge.

Investigators are also looking into the phone records of King.

Everyone thought the gunman was a relative or a friend of one of the consultants of Vital C health products, who had just completed their training that night.

King was attending the graduation of the consultants when the gunman walked in and shot the businessman with a .45 automatic.

The gunman was seen hanging around the glass doors of the building along Sobrecary St. in Barangay Obrero while King was talking with his consultants during the gathering.

The gunman casually walked out of the building after the shooting and got on a waiting motorcycle.

Police are also looking into King’s business dealings.

Aside from Vital C products, King also owns the Crown Regency Hotel along Cabaguio Avenue here.

King also headed the J. King & Sons Co. Inc., developer of Crown Regency, Club Ultima and the City Suites Ramos Tower in Cebu City.

King was also the founder and director of Boracay Multiple Properties Inc. that established the Crown Regency Boracay Resort.

Duterte condemned the killing and vowed to solve the case.

Former Manila mayor and Rep. Lito Atienza of party-list group Buhay also denounced the spate of killings in the country.

“We call on Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas and Philippine National Police chief Allan Purisima to immediately act on the country’s peace and order situation, which seems to be disintegrating before our very eyes. This breakdown in law and order is a pattern that we are seeing not just in Metro Manila but also across the country,” he said.

Atienza was reacting to the King murder, the mayors being shot in their hometowns and the latest killings of two media men in Oriental Mindoro and Digos, Davao del Sur.

He said the certainty of arrest is the best deterrent to the commission of a crime. – With Jess Diaz