Cops collar MIAA assassin

One of the two suspects in the Sept. 9 killing of Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Lilia Diaz has been arrested Tuesday, police said yesterday.

Police arrested Zaldi Dagting, 22, a member of the so-called Batang City Jail gang, in Tanyag, Taguig.

Authorities are still hunting down Dagting’s still unidentified accomplice, who drove the get-away motorcyle. Dagting was positively identified as the gunman by Diaz’s driver, Edwin Defeo, police said.

Diaz, 46, who was in charge of the MIAA’s finance and administration division, was shot dead in Parañaque City on her way to work.

Diaz died from a bullet wound to the heart before she reached the hospital, authorities said.

MIAA chief Edgar Manda called the killing "the height of cowardice" and put up a bounty for information that would lead to the arrest of the "perpetrators of this barbaric act."

Diaz was shot at around 9 a.m. when her heavily tinted van slowed down at a speed bump in Multinational Village, investigators said.

A man carrying a jacket was waiting at the corner, whipped out a .45 caliber pistol and fired a single shot through the window.

He fled on a motorcycle driven by another man who served as a lookout, according to a witness.

Hearing the shot, Defeo looked back, saw Diaz slumped on the backseat and sped off to nearby Olivarez General Hospital.

The bullet hit Diaz’s right shoulder and went through the left side of her chest, police said.

Police suspect the killers were professionals and probably checked out Diaz for days before carrying out the hit.

However, an airport officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gunman may have just intended to scare her.

He said more shots likely would have been fired if the intention was to kill, citing similar ambushes.

It was not immediately known what the motive was for the killing.

Diaz’s position, which involved hiring and firing staff, was "really sensitive," Manda earlier said. "There were a lot of toes that could be stepped on" as part of her job.

Diaz’s killing also "may have something to do with the ongoing reforms being made" at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manda earlier said.

The MIAA may have "stepped on" some people or groups who have lost or will lose money because of the reforms that include a plan for a government takeover of several airport services, Manda said.

Earlier, Manda said he and Diaz have been receiving death threats for the past year "from sectors who had wanted our cooperation on efforts to destabilize the government."

Citing recent ambushes on a Customs official in Cebu and another in Manila, Manda suspected there might be a plot to kill government officials to paint an image of political instability.

President Arroyo had ordered an investigation to determine if the rash of recent high-profile crimes — including a daytime Citibank robbery in the heart of Makati City’s business district — was part of a rumored plot to destabilize her administration.