Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 9) — State prosecutors are looking at the angle that there were three or four orchestrators of the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo last March 4, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters Thursday.
“Conspiracy ‘yan pero may mastermind ‘yan. Ang tingin namin hanggang tatlo, apat ‘yan na nagkaisa na magplano at kumuha nalang sila ng ibang tao para sumapi,” Remulla said.
“‘Yan ang aming pinag-aaralan ngayon at ‘yan pa’y lalabas sa mga statement na ilalabas ng mga tao,” he added.
[Translation: That’s a conspiracy but there is a mastermind. In our view, three or four individuals conspired to plan the assassination and hired people to join them. That’s what we are studying now that would come out in the statements to be released by people involved.]
Remulla said this could be a possible angle given the large number of casualties in the ambush, which happened in Degamo’s residential compound.
“Siyam na tao ang namatay, binawian ng buhay, labing-anim pa ang nasaktan, isang malaking pagkilos ‘yan na hindi kayang gawin ng isang tao lang na planuhin. Marahil marami ang nag-usap-usap diyan,” he explained.
[Translation: Nine people died, 16 others were hurt, that’s a big operation that cannot be planned by one single person. It could be many conspired on this.]
‘Well-planned, well-organized’
According to the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Degamo, the perpetrators carefully studied the movement and activities of the governor in preparation for his murder.
Based on testimonies, surveillance activities were already being done as early as December, but authorities are not sure yet if the suspects were able to infiltrate Degamo’s security detail.
\”There was already surveillance, casing, trying to choose the best design on how to attack. So this is a well-planned and well-organized attack,\” said PLtCol. Gerard Ace Pelare, SITG Degamo spokesperson.
A middleman was said to have recruited the gunmen, mostly former soldiers who were dismissed from service. Ten shooters in military uniforms and bulletproof vests entered Degamo’s compound in Pamplona town and opened fire.
Pelare said they arrived in Negros Oriental one by one and were gathered and briefed in a safehouse.
The task group said when some of the suspects were arrested hours after the crime, they were able to execute affidavits detailing what they know, from planning to their escape.
“During the custodial debriefing, we have known the blow-by-blow account of what happened…before, during, and after the crime,” Pelare said. “Prinocess sila [They were processed] together with the pieces of evidence recovered, at 1 a.m. of March 6, it’s a Monday, we already forwarded the first set of complaints sa [to the] prosecutor’s office.”
Authorities said they are now in the final touches of the investigation and are waiting for the results of other forensic examinations that will serve as strong pieces of evidence in the case, including the supposed video call between one of the arrested suspects and the mastermind.
\”The special investigation task group is trying to collect pieces of evidence, scientific, testimonial, and object, to make sure that we can build airtight case against the mastermind,\” Pelare said.
Tagging of Teves
Media reports said one of the suspects has already tagged Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. in the killing. Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo — the governor’s widow — is also convinced the lawmaker is the mastermind.
“There were several incidents in the past that have made me believe that he is the only one, along with those mga galamay niya [considered his minions] who can do these kinds of acts to people,” the mayor said.
“I hope pag nakuha ni gov. ‘yung hustisiya, parang nakuha na rin ng iba ‘yung kanila [I hope once the governor gets justice, other victims will feel the same],” she added.
But the Police Regional Office 7 said it was already “acquired information.”
\”The declarations made publicly earlier by one of the suspects in Gov. Degamo’s killing were information that we already acquired from the moment we arrested the four suspects six hours from the incident,\” the PRO7 said in a statement Thursday.
\”While we had these significant developments at hand at the early stage of the conduct of massive hot pursuit operations, we maintained that these be revealed in due time not to compromise the conduct of investigations,\” the police officer added.
The lawmaker’s camp called for those concerned to “observe sobriety” in their pronouncements. Teves has already denied any involvement.
