Parojinog was to testify in KB case, say probers

Police probers insisted yesterday that Misamis Occidental board member and co-founder of the Kuratong Baleleng (KB) robbery and kidnapping gang was reportedly set to testify in the celebrated Kuratong Baleleng rubout case and illegal fund-raising campaign involving two controversial politicians before he was shot dead in Manila.

This finding came up yesterday despite claims made by the immediate family members of murdered Board Member Renato Parojinog that he was in Manila just to follow projects for the province and not for anything else.

Camp Crame insiders claimed that probers are now looking into the possibility that Parojinog, was killed to prevent him from becoming the "star witness" in the sensational case now being deliberated at the Supreme Court and the fund raising campaign during the 1998 elections.

Sources said that last month, prior to his killing, Parojinog accompanied by his lawyer, Godwin Valdez, met with National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza in his office in Camp Crame, where he reportedly signified his intention to "testify" on the Kuratong Baleleng case.

Mendoza was not at his office yesterday, but a ranking police officer confirmed the Parojinog-Mendoza meeting.

Parojinog was earlier tagged by investigators as the prominent leader of the Kuratong Baleleng gang reportedly tapped by Charlie "Atong" Ang, close friend of deposed President Estrada to "fix" widows, relatives and witnesses in the highly controversial case, including government star witness SPO2 Ed de los Reyes.

Renato’s brother, Ozamis City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog while claiming that his brother was in Manila to follow government projects in the province, accused "ruthless politicians" to be behind the murder.

Mayor Parojinog, in an interview with a radio station yesterday, also admitted that he and his brother were members of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang. But he clarified that the gang, which their father co-founded was a "brainchild of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces and the police, in the government’s fight against the communist New People’s Army. — Jaime Laude