NCRPO: No breakthrough yet on Mayor murder probe

MANILA, Philippines - Metro police chief Director Roberto Rosales declared yesterday that there is no breakthrough as yet in their investigation into the murder of jueteng whistle-blower Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor in Pasay City.

Rosales said police investigators are piecing together the evidence to come up with the motive behind the slaying of Mayor Sunday last week.

“We are validating all information we gathered. So far, there is no breakthrough as yet but our investigation is ongoing and on a high gear,” Rosales told The STAR in an interview.

He said Mayor’s widow, Cherry failed to furnish them the names of persons who may have been after her husband.

“She claimed that Mayor did not convey to her anything since he appeared as a whistleblower in the Senate hearing in 12005. He became secretive according to his wife,” Rosales said.

In the said Senate hearing, Mayor and another whistle-blower, Sandra Cam, said First Gentleman Juan Miguel Arroyo and his son, Pampanga Rep. Jose Miguel Arroyo, have been receiving payoffs from jueteng operators. The Arroyos denied the charges.

But Rosales said the Pasay City police investigators are still in Daraga, Albay interviewing relatives, friends and acquaintances of Mayor who might provide them with possible leads.

Pasay City police chief Senior Superintendent Raul Petrasanta said they already identified the casino financier, a certain Flower, the last person Mayor was seen talking to minutes before he was ambushed along MIA Road.

“We were able to identify her as Erlinda Yao. We are trying to establish her address so we could get her statements regarding the killing of Mayor,” Petrasanta told The STAR.

Petrasanta, head of Task Force Mayor, said another jueteng whistle-blower, Richard Garcia, told him that the killing of Mayor might have something to do with the illegal numbers game in Albay.

According to Garcia, it was Mayor who facilitated the entry of Virtual 2 in Albay province, which earned him the ire of jueteng operators there. “Mr. Garcia claimed that Mayor could not set foot in Albay because the jueteng lords are after his head,” Petrasanta said.

He admitted they have no clear motive in Mayor’s killing but “all angles are being looked into, like the revelation of Mr. Garcia.” – Non Alquitran