NBI, police closing in on killers of Espinosa

Combined agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are now closing in on the killers of Masbate City Mayor Moises Espinosa Jr.

Lolito Utitco, NBI deputy director for regional operations, told reporters yesterday that witnesses have identified the suspects.

"We have identified the suspects, including the alleged triggermen, through several witnesses. We are now in hot pursuit of the suspects," he said.

Utitco, however, said they are having difficulty in coordinating the pursuit operation because of communication problems between their headquarters in Manila and their field office in Bicol, headed by lawyer Alejandro Tenerife.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez gave the NBI 72 hours, starting yesterday, to gain substantial leads in the Espinosa killing.

Utitco said that shortly after Espinosa was shot dead, he ordered his agents to investigate the case.

According to Utitco, they are now looking at several angles, particularly the possible involvement of a drug syndicate in Espinosa’s murder as well as politics.

NBI director Reynaldo Wycoco, however, believes the murder was "politically motivated."

The Masbate City police earlier said that four men and a woman, apparently in their forties, gunned down Espinosa early Friday morning while attending a dance in the coastal barangay of Bantigue, and then fled aboard a motorized banca.

Police said autopsy showed that Espinosa sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of the body from an M-16 rifle and caliber .45 and 9 mm handguns.