Charges filed vs suspect in town treasurer’s slay

BAUANG, La Union – Police formally filed murder charges the other day against the suspected killer of this town’s woman treasurer.

No bail was recommended for the suspect, Rogelio Ordoña, who was arrested three hours after shooting municipal treasurer Felicidad Picar in the neck with a caliber .45 pistol while she was waiting for a ride to the town hall on Monday morning.

“The case is considered solved, but we are still exerting efforts to unmask the mastermind, if there is any,” said Superintendent Pedro Obaldo, Bauang police chief.

Obaldo said the murder case was immediately filed because witnesses were “very cooperative and told what they saw without hesitation.”

Sources told The STAR that Ordoña was also cooperating with investigators and that he might be convinced to tell why he killed Picar and who ordered him to do so.

There were speculations that politics might have something to do with the killing because Picar chaired the municipal board of canvassers in the May 14 elections.

Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos regional police director, earlier told The STAR that Ordoña’s cellular phone, which he allegedly lost while policemen were chasing him in a forested area in Barangay Urayong, might hold the clue on who could have masterminded the gunslaying. 

Ordoña is now detained under tight security at the Bauang municipal jail.