Tetangco murder reward raised to P1 million

ANGELES CITY , Philippines  – The police task force on the murder of a brother of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor and two others here on June 2 has been raised to P1 million, even as results of ballistics tests released yesterday indicated only one M-16 rifle was used to kill all three victims.

In an interview with The Star, Task Force Tetangco-Yap Senior Superintendent Wendy Rosario said that forensic study results indicated that the victims tried to fight off their assailants. Rosario said that a “sympathizer” of the families of victims Rene Tetangco, brother of BSP governor Amando Tetangco, businessman Florencio Yap and Yap’s aide Dennis Guinto has offered P600,000 reward on top of the P400,000 offered by the police for anyone who could give information that could lead to the identification of the suspect or suspects in the crime.

“The contributor asked not to be identified in the meantime,” said Rosario.

As of yesterday, the police remained without any suspect nor have they identified the exact location of the crime. The SUV where the bodies of the victims were found was believed to have been driven by a suspect to an empty lot in Barangay Pampang after they were shot dead elsewhere.

Rosario also cited that results of a ballistic study conducted by the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) team indicated that only one M-16 rifle was used to fatally shoot the victims in Yap’s Ford Expedition vehicle.

“The three slugs and one fragmented slug recovered from the SUV were all fired from the same rifle,” he said in a telephone interview.

He also noted that the gunman seemed to have shot the victims from outside the SUV.

“It seems the gunman went to the right side then fired, then went to the other side to also shoot the others,” he said.

“It seems probable that the victims tried to reach out for the rifle the gunman was holding towards them. While the gunman fired from outside the vehicle, the entry of bullets in their bodies were mostly on the opposite side. This indicated that the victims tried to move away from the direction of the rifle,” he noted.

As of yesterday, task force probers have already solicited testimonies from 27 persons, including former Bacolor Mayor Romeo Dungca and former provincial board member Dinan Labung with whom the victims were supposed to meet for a poker game at the King’s Poker and Sports Club here on the night they were murdered. The victims were on their way to the club when they were killed, although they, while en route, were able to call up the club for dinner reservations.

Rosario earlier said probers are looking into the involvement of both Yap and Tetangco in cockfighting operations, as well as local politics, as possible motive for the murders.   – With Ric Sapnu