íTHE PNP yesterday said one of the firearms used in the ambush slaying of Aparri Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda and five of his companions last February was the same weapon used in three separate killings based on the results of a ballistics examination.
The Cagayan Valley Police Regional Office said the slugs gathered from the crime scene came from a .45 caliber pistol that was used in killing incidents in Gonzaga, Cagayan; Sta. Teresita also in Cagayan; and San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, suggesting that one of the assassins is a gun-for-hire.
“The gunman is a member of a gun-for-hire group because one of the firearms used, a caliber .45, had a hit in shooting incidents,” the Cagayan Valley police said during the second hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs on the killing of Alameda.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo said the police should have identified the hitman since the caliber .45 pistol has been involved in three other killings.
“The PNP is not dumb not to identify who these hitmen are. So, who are the members of this gun-for-hire group?” Tulfo said.
The police said that based on its investigation, a certain Joey Cabeza is a known hitman operating in the Cagayan Valley region and nearby provinces.
The police said Cabeza was once “linked” to Alameda but had reportedly switched allegiance to “the other side.” They did not elaborate.
“Based on (our) information, he was linked to the vice mayor (Alameda) as he was spotted visiting the vice mayor. But based on the investigation of our intelligence teams, he crossed fences. We do not know where he is now but I had information that he was arrested in the National Capital Region sometime in 2020 for violation of Anti-Illegal Drugs Law but was able to post bail,” the police said.
Asked if Cabeza could have been one of the hitmen of Alameda, the police said “it could be possible.”
Police said the motive in the killing points to politics since Cagayan Mayor Bryan Dale Chan and Alameda had filed cases against each other before the Ombudsman.
“One of the motives is politics because of the stories relayed to us of the conflict of the vice mayor and the incumbent mayor regarding the filing of cases (before the) Ombudsman. Each has a grudge,” said retired Brig. Gen Percival Rumbaoa, the former regional police director of the Cagayan Valley Police Regional Office who led the investigation into the assassination until his retirement early this month.
The PNP earlier said that Chan and his security escorts were “persons of interest” in the killing of Alameda. The others were Dennis de Guzman, Freddie Molina, Rommel Paltao, Antonio Beltran Guzman, Rommel Pena, Freddie Tapuro, and Romeo Cortez.
Darren Cruz Abordo, the owner of the gunmen’s getaway vehicle, had been charged with six counts of murder, obstruction of justice, and violation of the Clean Air Act before the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Prosecutors’ Office. Abordo is still at-large.
During the last hearing, De Guzman, Molina, and Paltao agreed to undergo voluntary polygraph tests but backed out during yesterday’s hearing on the advice of their legal counsels.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, the panel chairman, said the refusal of the three to undergo a polygraph test would lead to public perception that they are hiding something.
Police established the connection of Chan and the other persons of interest to the killing after the Mitsubishi Adventure registered to Abordo was found burned in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya on February 20, a day after Alameda and his companions were ambushed by men wearing police uniforms in Nueva Vizcaya.
Dela Rosa asked Globe Telecom to present the communication details of Chan’s registered number to determine the details of the text messages and calls he made.
But Ariel Tubayan, Globe Telecom head of Policy Division and Legal Services, said it is not possible since the telco only provides connectivity and storing millions of text messages each day would entail bigger “resources” to the company.
“We only provide connectivity but we cannot store text messages as it will take a lot of resources,” Tubayan told the panel.
