Mary Ong’s former lover slain

A controversial senior police officer once linked to the drug trade by his former lover was murdered by a lone gunman in a restaurant in Parañaque City early yesterday morning.

Superintendent John Campos, closely identified with former Philippine National Police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, was shot from behind with an Armalite rifle. He died on the spot from three gunshot wounds, one of them in the head.

A waitress, identified as Emily Dumlao, 29, was also killed in the attack.

The 36-year-old Campos was pronounced dead on arrival at the South Superhighway Hospital in Parañaque, while Dumlao, who was hit in the abdomen, died while being treated in the same hospital.

Initial investigation showed that Campos and a companion identified as Antonio Cabanban, a dismissed cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in Baguio City, were having a snack shortly before 2 a.m. at a roadside eatery when the gunman sneaked up from behind and fire at Campos at will, hitting him three times.

Cabanban, along with two other workers of the Tita Ghem’s Food Haus on Doña Soledad Avenue in Barangay Don Bosco in Parañaque, were unhurt.

Cabanban, waitress Sheila Salazar and cook Darwin Guzman were invited to the Parañaque police headquarters for interview pertaining the description of the killer.

Investigators retrieved seven M-16 Armalite shells and a deformed slug from the crime scene.

National Capital Region Police chief Deputy Director Reynaldo Velasco said the Parañaque police under Superintendent Wency Pascual will spearhead the investigation under the direct supervision of Chief Superintendent Jose Gutierrez Jr., head of the Southern Police District.

Velasco ruled out the formation of a special team of investigators to solve the Campos assassination.

Pascual told police probers that he and Campos were on their way home from the Rockstar nightclub in Libis, Quezon City when they decided to have a snack first at the eatery which is open round the clock, located near the Bicutan South Luzon Tollway interchange.

Police believed the gunman was with some accomplices who were waiting for him inside a green sedan parked on the other side of the street.

The probers also theorized that the assassins tailed Campos’ Honda Civic with license plates UKY-201 all the way from Libis to Parañaque.

Pascual said the killers fled toward Moonwalk, adding that the witnesses failed to take down the car’s license plate.

Velasco said Campos was seated with his back toward the road so the victim did not see the assassin approaching.

A senior police official noted that the killer was well-trained and an expert sniper such that except for Dumlao who was standing in the line of fire, no other people in the place were hit.

Classmates and colleagues of Campos, a member of the PMA Class 1987, vowed to conduct their own investigation to help bring the case to an early solution.

The group said they were puzzled that Campos was slain only two days after he posted bail on a direct bribery case lodged against him before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

"For now, we can’t say who the suspects are, but we are determined to unmask them and we will assist the Parañaque police in solving this case," one of Campos’ classmates said.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also moved to help in solving the Campos murder.

NBI National Capital Region chief Edmund Arugay said a team of investigators has been dispatched to go after the killers.

Arugay also said they were considering providing security to Campos’ family.

‘Get the killers,’ Ping tells PNP

Lacson urged the PNP to immediately solve the killing of Campos, who served under him when he was chief of the Cebu Metropolitan District Command from 1989 to 1992.

"It always brings pain when someone known to you in the police force is killed in cold blood," Lacson said in a statement.

He also lamented that his critics were exploiting the assassination to revive their smear campaign against him.

He was apparently referring to allegations by Mary "Rosebud" Ong, a former live-in partner of Campos, who expressed suspicion that the senator had something to do with the murder.

Ong claimed that Campos was killed to prevent him from testifying in criminal cases pending against Lacson.

"The earlier the PNP solves the case, the better for all of us as the official results of the investigation will put to rest all speculations, which members of the media are now entertaining," Lacson said.

Ong implicated Campos in drug deals following their breakup while he was still working with the PNP Narcotics Group in Camp Crame.

Malacañang strongly condemned the murder, saying it was the "height of brutality."

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao also expressed condolences to the families of Campos and Dumlao. — With Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Efren Danao, Non Alquitran, Sammy Santos, Marichu Villanueva