Mastermind of Leyte mayor’s slay sought

CEBU CITY — With the arrest of the suspected gunmen, police are now following up leads that will point to the mastermind in the killing of the mayor of Hindang, Leyte and his son here last Thursday.

Police identified the alleged assailants as PO1 Marsan Roque Bisnar and Nedy Polistico who were presented to the media the other day.

Both were charged with double murder for the killing of Mayor Roy Jumao-as and his 25-year-old son Jake, while Bisnar will also be charged administratively with the Office of the Ombudsman.

Police arrested Bisnar and Polistico on Sunday morning in Bisnar’s home in Barangay Mohon, Talisay City.

Bisnar has denied any involvement in the killing, saying he was manning his post as a beat policeman in Tipolo, Mandaue City at the time of the slay.

Polistico, Bisnar’s alleged accomplice, said he had come to Cebu from Inupakan, Leyte because Bisnar’s uncle hired him to do carpentry work for the policeman’s house in Talisay.

Bisnar said he came to know Polistico only recently because he was engaged in carpentry work.

Polistico notified Bisnar on Saturday that he would leave for Leyte, but Bisnar asked him to stay for other carpentry chores.

City police chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo said he was able to identify Bisnar from a cartographic sketch because Bisnar was once detailed in Talisay City where he was a former police chief.

Both Bisnar and Polistico are now detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

During investigation, Bisnar denied allegations that Jumao-as was instrumental for his transfer from Talisay City to Kanlaon town in Negros Oriental.

He said it was Mayor Alfredo Leron of Inupakan, Leyte who lobbied for his relief because the mayor was incensed that he carried on an affair with his cousin.

Bisnar said he worked as a casual employee of the municipal government of Inupakan in 1995 and that after he was terminated, he moved to Cebu to apply as a policeman.

Having finished his police course, he was accepted at the Regional Training School in 1996 and was assigned at the Subangdaku police station in Mandaue City.

Two men killed Jumao-as and his son last Thursday night. Jumao-as had just arrived from Leyte and was met at the port by his son. As they got off from a taxi in front of their apartment at the corner of D. Jakosalem street and Gen. Maxilom Avenue, two men at a store offered them drinks.

The politician that he was, Jumao-as obliged. At that point, two other men came and just fired at father and son.

As both slumped bloodied on the pavement, the assailants finished them off with more shots and then casually walked away to a waiting taxi.

Police and the National Bureau of Investigation are exploring at least three motives in the killing, including politics, business rivalry and purported illicit relations.

Other than the cartographic sketch, police tracked down the taxi that the assailants rode, eventually leading to Bisnar’s arrest.

Meanwhile, Bisnar’s neighbors in Barangay Mohon, Talisay City were surprised about his arrest as a primary suspect, saying he is a silent person who just hangs out outside his home while having a drink with visitors.

But bystanders who know Bisnar alleged that he tolerates drug users and even drug peddlers in the area.

His former colleagues at the Talisay police alleged that the policeman was himself a drug user. — Freeman News Service