P2.5-million reward up for university exec’s killers arrest

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — The reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailants of Ricardo Rotoras, president of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP), has been raised to P2.5 million.

The city council here approved on Wednesday the release of P500,000 as additional reward.

Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr. proposed the increase to help investigators identify and arrest the perpetrators of the killing.

Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno announced a reward of P1 million shortly after the incident. Another P1 million was offered by local chapters of the Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, of which Rotoras was a member.

Sally Hans Barbaso, National Bureau of Investigation-Northern Mindanao director,  said the reward is expected to encourage those who may have knowledge on the identity of the killers and the mastermind to come forward.

Barbaso said initial investigation showed that four persons were involved in the killing.

Aside from the two gunmen, he said, another person acted as a lookout. The driver of the getaway vehicle is the fourth suspect.

Barbaso said a second lookout could have monitored Rotoras during a Christmas party in a hotel hours before the incident.

He said the killing was “a well-planned and well-financed operation.” 

Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education named USTP-Claveria Campus chancellor Rosalito Quirino as acting president of USTP.

Rotoras was gunned down by unidentified men outside his house at Golden Glow North subdivision in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro last  Saturday.

Rotoras, who served as head of the USTP since 2006, was also the president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges.

He will be buried today.