Sketch of suspect in restaurateur’s murder released

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  – Police have released to the media copies of the sketch of the gunman who shot dead Aries Christopher Bejar Alvarez, a food chain businessman in this city, last Oct. 22.

Inspector Eddie Oira, Dumaguete Police OIC chief, said the sketch was based on the descriptions provided by an eyewitness who is now in police custody for safety and security. The eyewitness is willing to testify in court, he said.

Until today, investigators still do not have concrete evidence to link the crime to the victim’s businesses, although this was the most likely angle being considered by law enforcers, Oira said.

Alvarez, 40, married and a resident of Talay in this city was gunned down at 8:50 p.m. last October 22 shortly after he boarded his car that was parked across the street from the Ka Waway restaurant that he owned.

Aside from the Ka Waway chain, Alvarez was the proprietor of the Chicken Ati-atihan and the Highway 10 restaurants that are open to franchises in many parts of the country.

The suspect, a lone gunman, shot him at close range and fled on foot. Investigators later recovered a spent shell of a .45-caliber bullet from the scene, which later turned out to be a government-issued round that bore the marking RPA, or Republic of the Philippines Arsenal.  — Judy Flores Partlow

Ammunitions manufactured by the Philippine government are head-stamped RPA on the bottom and are issued only to the military and the police.

A second suspect, believed to be an accomplice of the gunman, has not yet been identified. Both had been seen allegedly hanging out at least five consecutive nights at a nearby snack bar from the crime scene, police investigators said.  (FREEMAN)