Vendetta eyed in slay of Pangasinan politician, wife

MANILA, Philippines - Police investigators are zeroing in on a local official for his possible complicity in the killing of former Lingayen, Pangasinan vice mayor Ramon Arcinue and his wife, Zorahayda, in Sampaloc, Manila last March 7.

A source at the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide division told The STAR they are tracking the former local official, also known to be an operator of the illegal numbers game loteng in the province, they suspect ordered the killing.

The same source said the former official has an axe to grind against Zorahayda, who was the incumbent chairperson of Barangay Poblacion in Lingayen.

“Apparently this person and his son, as per our information, were shot several years back and he suspects that Zorahayda’s bodyguard was the culprit. We understand that a case was filed but it was dismissed,” the source said.

An P800,000 reward for the arrest of the suspects in the killing of the Arcinues were raised last week by Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino and Lingayen Mayor Ernesto Castañeda.

MPD homicide section police officers are still scouring certain towns in Pangasinan for the gunman, believed to be a bodyguard of a politician from another town.

The source did not identify the local official because he said the police believe that he didn’t know that his bodyguard “was doing other jobs.”

“The local official (suspect) transferred residence some years back and settle in that town. It was there that he probably met the gunman who was working as the town’s local official’s bodyguard,” the MPD source said.

Another source told The STAR that the mastermind could be related by marriage to Zorahayda’s sister. “There were several angles that we were looking into because of the political backgrounds of the victims, but this one is the closest. We are silently and carefully tracking down the suspect, which we believe could lead us to the mastermind,” he said.