No witnesses yet in Department of Agriculture official's slay

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – Police investigators are having a hard time looking for witnesses who could provide information on the ambush-slay of the Cagayan Valley regional director of the Department of Agriculture in Solana, Cagayan last April 14.

Senior Superintendent Moro Lazo, Cagayan police director, said they have been trying to convince farmers in Barangay Basi West, Solana town who could have witnessed how two motorcycle-riding gunmen waylaid 63-year-old Dr. Gumersindo Lasam.

Lazo said the farmers were already busy at work, thus some of them could have seen the ambush that happened at around 7:15 a.m.

No one, however, has come forward to help in the investigation, apparently out of fear that the perpetrators may go after them.

The most senior among the country’s DA regional directors, Lasam, who was set to retire in 2011 after more than 30 years in government service, was ambushed while he was on his way to his farm.

Lasam, also concurrent DA assistant secretary for Northern Luzon, succumbed to bullet wounds in the back and left chest while being treated at the Saint Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao City, two hours after he was waylaid.

Meanwhile, Director Leopoldo Bataoil, head of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Northern Luzon, who was in the region for consultations with members of Task Force Lasam, said investigators were looking into all possible motives behind the killing.

“We don’t have any concrete lead yet but we will assure everybody, especially the bereaved family, that we are determined to get to the bottom of this case,” said Bataoil, reiterating President Arroyo’s offer of a P1-million cash reward for information leading to the arrest of Lasam’s killers.

Asked if the killing had something to do with Lasam’s being a witness against former DA undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante in the P728-million fertilizer scam, Bataoil said they would “consider all possibilities including that.”

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, earlier bared plans to call for an investigation into Lasam’s slay, noting that a number of people who had knowledge of irregularities at the DA also suffered the same fate.

There have been speculations, too, that Lasam’s killing could have something to do with a land dispute or his supposed plans to seek elective office in next year’s polls.