Batangas town mayor tagged in killing of village chief, wife

Batangas , Philippines   â€“ The Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) of the provincial police has formally requested the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a preliminary investigation against the mayor of Laurel town and 10 others for the 2014 killing of a village chief and his wife.

In a two-page complaint to DOJ prosecutor Claro Arellano, Chief Inspector Benjie Calapiz, assistant commander of the Special Investigation Task Group-Rodriguez, said two witnesses have come forward and tagged Mayor Randy James Amo in the killing of village chief Nestorio Rodriguez and his wife Rosalina.

Also named in the complaint were PO2 Rolando Cabrera Rodriguez Jr., PO3s Michael Grafil Rebato, Danilo Vingua Salvatierra Jr., and Raynald Ucol Siringan, all Laurel policemen; Benjamin Landicho, Reynold Amo, Montano Genil, Mark Amo, Rolando Rodriguez, and Rene Talay.

On the night of Feb. 28, 2014, the Rodriguezes had just come from Mayor Amo’s house and were cruising the national highway in Laurel when an explosion ripped through their L-200 pick-up.

The witnesses alleged that they saw Mark Amo and PO2 Rodriguez, who were aboard a motorcycle, throw a grenade in the couple’s car.

The Rodriguezes died on the spot while their companions, Jimmy and Maximo Sarmiento, sustained serious physical injuries. 

Investigation showed Rodriguez could have allegedly earned the mayor’s ire for defeating the latter’s bet in the barangay polls. Rodriguez belonged to a different political party.

Amo, however, denied the allegations, saying he was not capable of pulling off the killing as he was a wedding sponsor of Rodriguez‘s son.

In a phone interview, Amo wondered how the four policemen ended up in the list of respondents when they were taking further studies and thus were not in Laurel town when the bombing took place.

Amo added that he himself sought the CIDU investigation to help the Rodriguez family.

He said he only learned about the murder complaint against him when The STAR sought his side.

Amo suspects personal or political motive on his being tagged in the killing, saying though that his lawyers are prepared to handle the case.