Liloan cops get lead to couple’s rob-slay

CEBU, Philippines - Police are now hunting down a person of interest in connection to the robbery and killing of a couple in Barangay Catarman, Liloan town on Sunday night.

Senior Inspector  Ramil Morpos, Liloan Police Station chief, said the "person" is still in Cebu and is now a subject of a hot pursuit operation.

Initial investigation led police to an alias of a person they consider as a possible lead into the identification of the gunman or the mastermind behind the slaying of Celedonio and Josephine Angelo.

"Naa ta'y person of interest,  ato pa ning i-develop. Ato naning gisubay karon nga posibleng aduna'y kalabotan or ni-participate sa krimen," Morpos said.

He clarified,  though, that the information they received has yet to be verified.

Morpos said investigators are in contact with witnesses for their statements. One witness told them that he saw two people, one a motorcycle driver and a backrider who served as a gunman, believed to be responsible for the couple's death.

Police believe the crime was premeditated and was carefully planned by the gunmen.

Witnesses told the police that there was an electric lamppost in the area, but on the day of the killing, the area was not lighted.

Aside from the robbery with homicide angle, police are also not discounting the possibility of the crime being related to a land dispute angle. There have been reports that the couple was embroiled in a property row with a yet unidentified man which reached the court.

The couple is survived by three children aged 11, 9 and 5, who are in the custody of Josephine's sister.

The couple, who owned a grocery stall in Barangay Tayud, Liloan, was ambushed by riding-in-tandem men who also took the wife's shoulder bag before speeding off. —(FREEMAN)