Raps readied vs Ballacillo suspect

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are set to file double murder charges against the alleged gunman in the killing of Assistant Solicitor General Nestor Ballacillo and his son today.

Ruel Lasala, head of the NBI-National Capital Region (NCR), said they would lodge criminal charges against suspect Christopher Garcia, who was arrested last week.

Lasala and Police Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, would both sign the complaint affidavit before they file it before the Parañaque City Prosecutor’s Office in the morning.

He was arrested by policemen while he was being treated for a gunshot wound at the Philippine General Hospital last Dec. 20.

Garcia had been wounded in a robbery last Dec. 20 when his intended victim managed to wrestle the gun from him and shoot him thrice, hitting him in the abdomen.

The NBI-Special Task Force provided the two witnesses who allegedly positively identified him as one of the two gunmen in the Ballacillo murders.

Police records showed that Garcia was allegedly a notorious "police character" with at least 20 pending warrants of arrest for murder, frustrated murder, illegal drugs, car theft, robbery, among others committed in Cavite and Metro Manila.

He is also a suspected drug dealer and might have been under the influence of shabu when he and a partner gunned down Ballacillo and his son Benedict.

Lasala admitted that they have been trying to keep the information under wraps because it could jeopardize their follow-up operations. The joint PNP and NBI teams are still looking for Garcia’s accomplice, identified only as "Nato."

"There is an on going pursuit operations against Nato and we have operatives in the field looking for him," Lasala said.

Information coming from the intelligence community reported that the mastermind in the murders only paid the two killers about P10,000 each for the job.

"They were also tricked by the person who hired their services because they were told that the target was an illegal recruiter and not a government official. If the target was a government official they could have asked for a bigger payment," the NBI official added.

Both killings were also believed to be "low budget" operations because Garcia and his partner were not provided a getaway vehicle, Lasala said. The killers also had no backup.

Ballacillo and his son Benedict were waiting in Parañaque City for a car to pick them up for a meeting when two gunmen walked up to them and shot them dead.

Ballacillo had been arguing the government’s case in a legal battle over a terminal built by a consortium of Fraport AG and its Filipino partners in Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco).

In December 2005, Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Henrick Gingoyon — who had ordered the government to pay an initial P3 billion for the terminal — was ambushed and killed.

The $650-million terminal was built under a deal with the government in 1998.

But after President Arroyo came to office, she revoked the contract in 2002, citing what her advisers said were terms that were unfavorable to the government.

The government has since taken on the terminal, although a Pasay court has ordered it to pay Piatco compensation of an initial P3 billion. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe