SPD creates probe team on slaying of Binay aide

Southern Police District (SPD) director Senior Superintendent Ricardo Padilla has ordered the creation of a special investigation group that will look into the murder of the head of the Makati’s Business Permit and Licensing Office last Saturday.

Pablo Glean, the former security chief of Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, was gunned down by three men while he was having coffee at the snack shop of a gas station located at the Global City in Taguig.

Padilla said the investigating body will look into Glean’s links to the Philippine Guardians Brotherhood Inc.

"The group will be checking if Glean, who was a former officer of the Philippine Army, had enemies," Padilla said.

He said police will also try to find out if the murder was politically motivated. "His position as Makati’s BPLO chief and as former chief security officer of the mayor will also be taken into consideration.

The team will include the chief of the Taguig police station, chief of the Makati police station and members of the SPD intelligence group, SPD legal office and SPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Binay said he stands firm on his belief that the killing of his security chief was politically motivated as he decried statements that are part of a disinformation campaign intended to muddle the investigation.

"There is no other motive but politics. If the police really want to get to the bottom of this, then they should focus on Oplan Phoenix and Task Force Spider, which Glean had uncovered three weeks before his killing," he said.

In Makati, a 40-meter black cloth draped the City Hall building yesterday as city officials and employees mourned the death of a fellow public servant.

Employees at the BPLO wore black ribbons and draped the teller windows with black cloth. — With Michael Punongbayan