DILG to PNP: Solve Killings of Teachers, Barangay Officials

CAMP SIMEON OLA, Legazpi City (23 July) -THE KILLING of two elementary school teachers in Masbate Province, the slaying of two village officials and the attempted killings of a radioman in Nabua , Cam. Sur, all occurring in July this year have become high-priority cases of the PNP in Bikol.

PNP regional office spokesman, Sr. Supt. Eliciar Bron, disclosed on Thurs. (July 22) that newly installed Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec.  Jesse M. Robredo had personally intervened in the probe of the murder cases with a reported directive from President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on the immediate arrest of the suspects and subsequent filing of cases in court.

Bron said the killing of two public school teachers, Mark Francisco, 27 of San Isidro Elementary School in Palanas town and another public school teacher, Edgar Fernandez, 44, of Roco C. Pahis Sr. Central School in Masbate City, all in Masbate province, are among the priority cases of the PNP regional office.

Reportedly, the brutal slaying of the teachers in Masbate had already reached the attention of President Aquino, including another attempt on the life of Palanan school teacher, Dexter Legazpi, 36, who was shot last July 6 but had survived the shooting incident.

Bron said that last July 17, Alliance for Concerned Teachers (ACT) Representative Antonio Tinio had planned for an indignation rally for the slain school teachers, but relatives of Francisco and co-teachers in Palanas North District School have  signed a certification that Fernandez was not a member of ACT.

The killing of Francisco and Fernandez including the attempt on the life of Legazpi have drawn strong condemnation from the ACT; investigators claimed that armed men in camouflage uniforms were both involved in the separate  shooting  incident in  Masbate, simultaneously occurring last July 9.

Meanwhile Bron also bared that another priority case is the killing of barangay Councilor in San Pascual, Masbate, which is perceived as politically motivated.

In  a recent command conference at the PNP regional office here, Police Bicol Director, Chief Supt. Cecilio Calleja Jr. had ordered continued investigation of old "Usig cases," among them the unsolved killing of local  radioman, Jun Villanueva, alias "Guapo" and another murder case of an ABS-CBN anchorwoman in Albay in 1997.

At the Camarines Sur Provincial Police Office (PPO), a created task force to probe the attempted murder of Nabua town radioman, Miguel Belen, 48, a field reporter of DWEB-FM, based in this locality, has identified one of the suspects, as Eric "Javier"  Y Jagurin.

However, the task force amended in a report the identity of the suspect as Eric Vargas Y Jagurin from Iriga City; a case of Frustrated Homicide had been filed before the Naga City Prosecutor's Office, Bron added.

Meanwhile, Camarines Sur PPO spokesman, SPO4 Romulo Pabiano, also revealed of priority cases at PPO, among them the brutal slaying of a woman-barangay captain Marites  Señedo Toldanes, 49, in Pulang-Daga, Balatan, Camarines Sur last June 27.

According to reports, the village head was forced by the two armed men to go to spot some 15-meters away from her house where she was subsequently summarily executed, using Cal. 45 pistols. The Balatan Municipal Police Station has remained without any leads on the motive and identity of the killers.