Auditor’s kin to Arroyo: Please solve the killing

BAGUIO CITY — The family of slain Ilocos Sur auditor Agustin Chan Jr. is appealing to President Arroyo to solve his and his driver’s ambush-killing last Oct. 4 and leave no stone unturned in pursuing the case.

"Please, Madam President, solve the killing of my (brother-in-law)," pleaded lawyer Joseph Rulla, older brother of Chan’s wife Evelyn, in a press statement yesterday.

"We appeal to you to have a look at the families of Agustin and Alex (Regacho, Chan’s driver), whose lives are now made miserable after their husbands and fathers were taken away from them in the most brutal manner," he added.

Earlier, Evelyn and 23-year-old daughter Annalyn expressed skepticism that the Ilocos Sur police will be able to solve the killing considering the province’s long list of unsolved assassinations.

The Chan family appealed to witnesses or those who may have knowledge of the ambush-slaying to come forward and help probers.

"The cycle of violence and injustice in our country would never end for as long as we let fear reign supreme in our hearts," Rulla said.

Ilocos Sur officials are offering a P500,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the killers.

Lawyer Abelardo Estrada, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Baguio-Benguet chapter, is optimistic though that something will come out of the probe.

Estrada said the killing has grabbed national attention, citing the call of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel for an impartial investigation.

Estrada, who visited the Chans the other day, said that although Mrs. Chan and her children remain cynical, "they are beginning to see a ray of hope" because of the national attention the case has received.

He said the entire IBP, where Chan was a bonafide member, through its national office, is asking the Philippine National Police and the military to conduct a thorough probe.

The IBP Baguio-Benguet chapter, which convened a special board meeting the other day, has sent a resolution to IBP national chairman Teofilo Pilando asking for the organization’s intervention.