Task Force Pagdanganan finding link between slain suspect, trader

Task Force Pagdanganan is now trying to establish a link between one of the two robbery suspects slain in Bocaue, Bulacan and a businessman who could have a hand in the killing of former Calumpit mayor Ramon “Monching” Pagdanganan last May 4.

Probers took special attention on Jerry Gagal who was killed with a certain Jocel in an encounter with Bocaue policemen Wednesday night after it was gathered he was frequently seen in Divisoria.

One of the suspected brains being investigated by probers in the Pagda­nganan slaying is a fabric businessman based in Divisoria.

The businessman is also reportedly a civilian agent of the National Bureau of Investigation.

“We are trying to establish Gagal’s link to (the businessman) because his business is based in Divisoria,” an investigator said.

Gagal’s live-in partner Sheila also told Bocaue police investigators that her live-in partner was based in Divisoria.

Two police witnesses in the shooting of Pagdanganan during a fiesta in Barangay Calizon in Calumpit town told the task force that the two slain robbery suspects (Gagal and Jocel) bore the same features of the two men who gunned down Pagdanganan.

However, former Bulacan Gov. Roberto “Obet” Pagdanganan maintained that his brother’s killing was politically motivated.

He even confronted the two witnesses the other day and scolded them for telling the task force that Gagal and Jocel could be his brother’s killers.

Despite this development, Task Force Pagdanganan, aside from pursuing other angles, is now looking at love triangle as a motive behind the murder of the former Calumpit mayor, Pagdanganan’s younger brother.

This angle surfaced in the sworn statements of 29-year-old Celeste Fajardo of Barangay Calizon, Calumpit who turned out to be the subject of the love interest of both Pagdanganan and the businessman.

The businessman ended being beat up by Pagdanganan last December when the former tried to take Fajardo as his live-in partner.

At the time of his death, the former mayor was in the company of Fajardo along with other friends.

Meanwhile, the former Bulacan governor linked the provincial government yesterday to what he alleged to be a “conspiracy to whitewash” his younger brother’s murder, but provincial officials denied this.

Speaking over dwIZ 882 radio yesterday, Pagdanganan claimed that a cover-up was ongoing, citing a press statement on the supposed love triangle issued by the provincial public affairs office last Friday.

The provincial government, however, said it was not aware about the supposed statement and that it was only dependent on the police investigation.