"Task Force Mayor" Heads to Bikol

MANILA, March 3  - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has sent a team of police investigators to Bikol to conduct further probe of the ambush-killing of former jueteng whistleblower Wilfredo "Boy" Mayor last Saturday in Paranaque City.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said police investigators are now looking at three possible theories in connection with the case.

"The NCRPO director (Director Roberto Rosales) told me that he already sent investigators to Bikol because of other theories being considered that possibly originated there," said Verzosa.

Immediately after the Saturday ambush, the PNP created a special investigation task group to address the case.

Mayor, along with two companions among them his son-in-law Allan Castro, was on his way home to Paranaque City from a casino when his heavily-tinted Volvo car was peppered with bullets by still unknown assailants. Mayor was killed while his companions were wounded.

Verzosa said that among the theories now being pursued are Mayor's possible unsettled debt at the casino, his present interest in Small Town Lottery (STL) operation in Bikol and, lastly, possible problem from Department of Public Works and Highways' contracts in Bikol.

At present, the PNP chief maintained there is still no clear motive in the killing.

"As of now, we can't say (what mostly prompted the killing). We have to check with our investigators what's the development of their investigation," said Verzosa.

Verzosa said the PNP has been receiving information from various sources regarding the killing. "I think the investigators may be coming up with the sketches," he said.

The PNP chief also expressed the possibility of inviting personalities who have talked with Mayor prior to the ambush, among them, retired Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who used to handle Mayor, and fellow jueteng whistle-blower Sandra Cam.

Cruz, during interviews, said that he last saw and talked with Mayor three days before he was killed; the bishop said that Mayor had revealed to him a construction firm that corners big DPWH projects in the Bikol region. Cruz expressed belief the killing has nothing to do with jueteng.

Verzosa also called on other people who might have knowledge about Mayor's activities or places he went before the killing to come out and assist the police in addressing the case.

"With the precision to what happened, we can just conclude that there was thorough planning and prior surveillance," said Verzosa. (PNA)