Probe link of ex-solon's slay to Valerio murder - Estrada

President Estrada has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into a possible link between the killing of Government Corporate Counsel Macario Valerio and that of his best friend, former Lanao del Norte representative Mario Hisuler.

NBI Director Federico Opinion Jr. said the Chief Executive issued the instructions to him during a meeting at Malacañang last Tuesday.

Valerio was gunned down by still unidentified men while he was opening the gate of his house in Quezon City in the early morning of March 18.

Hisuler was shot dead near Valerio's grave in a cemetery in Jaen, Nueva Ecija which he was visiting for the traditional 40th day prayers last May 1. He was with Valerio's widow, Mila, and other lawyers.

Others accompanying Hisuler were Deputy Immigration Commissioner Fortu Pugoon, lawyers Crisolito Dionido and Rodolfo Waga, and three police bodyguards.

Valerio and Hisuler were senior partners in the Hisuler, De Guzman, Dionido and Ocaya law offices in Makati.

Opinion said Valerio supported Hisuler's election protest after Hisuler lost the 1995 congressional elections in Lanao del Norte. Hisuler was later proclaimed as congressman.

NBI investigators are trying to determine if the gunmen had targeted Hisuler because it was impossible for the killers to have instantly planned the ambush as Hisuler had just arrived in Nueva Ecija when he was killed.

Meanwhile, police are still facing a blank wall in the investigation of Hisuler's murder.

The killers were believed to have targeted Hisuler alone as his companions were unhurt. They reportedly waited for him at Valerio's tomb and shot him from an elevated position.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Roberto Calinisan said more intelligence operatives will be sent to the crime scene to help local police in gathering information and establishing leads.

He assigned the 3rd Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to be the lead investigation agency in the Hisuler case.

Calinisan also ordered the Nueva Ecija police to "move" all its resources and "get the killers at the soonest possible time."

Police recovered at the scene 11 empty shells from an Armalite rifle.

The NBI said Hisuler sustained several gunshot wounds in the right side of his body.

Hisuler died because he lost a lot of blood, according to nurses at the Nueva Ecija Doctors' Hospital, where he was taken after the shooting. Hisuler and his other law partners were being investigated by the NBI for Valerio's death.

Valerio's murder is being investigated by the NBI and CIDG.