Aklan raises P500,000 reward for information on killers of councilor

MANILA, Philippines - The provincial government of Aklan has raised P500,000 in reward money for any information that will lead to the identification, arrest and solution of the killing of Fernando Baldomero, a councilor and member of a militant group in Kalibo, Aklan.

Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., director for Western Visayas, said the reward money was raised following a call by party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño and former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo for speedy solution of the case.

Baldomero, 64, a Sangguniang Bayan member of Lezo town in Aklan, was shot dead in Barangay Estancia, Kalibo last Monday.

His killing was witnessed by his 12-year-old son who provided the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) “Baldomero” and the composite artist with visual details of the gunman.

Police released yesterday a composite sketch of the assailant after Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez announced the reward money for the attacker’s arrest.

Pagdilao described the man of being medium built with fair complexion and about 30 to 40 years old.

Members of the SITG briefed officials on the investigation of Baldomero’s killing.

Pagdilao ordered the Police Regional Office 6 Crime Laboratory Service to fast-track its ballistic examination so that the .45 caliber slugs and empty shells recovered at the crime scene could be cross matched with other shooting incidents in Western Visayas.

He directed Senior Superintendent Epifanio Bragais Jr., SITG head, to scour all motorcycle buy-and-sell shops in Aklan and nearby provinces to check on the buyers of a blue Suzuki motorcycle used in Baldomero’s killing.

He said before the incident, Baldomero claimed to have been the subject of a grenade attack.

Pagdilao expressed optimism that with the full cooperation of the victim’s family and the reward money being offered, the case would be solved soon.

Kalinga killing

Meanwhile, in Kalinga, Nueva Vizcaya, police said the solution of the killing of journalist Jose Daguio may also be at hand.

Daguio, 75, was shot in the chest by a lone gunman inside his home at 8:30 p.m. last Saturday. He wrote a column for a local newspaper.

“I believe that we are very near to solving the case. We have enough evidence to file a (murder) case against the perpetrators of the crime as witnesses have come out willing to testify on what they know,” said Kalinga police director Senior Superintendent Virgilio Laya.

Laya, however, declined to give details on the case pending the filing of charges against the suspect.

Earlier, a village official suspected to be behind the killing of Daguio, a former anchorman-reporter of Radyo Natin-Kalinga, had turned himself in to authorities, claiming innocence.

Reports said Elorde Marcelino, a councilman of Tabuk City’s Barangay Tuga and village mate of Daguio, had earlier gone to the police office in Tabuk to stress that he had nothing to do with the killing.

Marcelino was again invited to undertake a paraffin test the other day to check if there was any possibility that he had fired the shotgun that killed Daguio.

Daguio had reportedly engaged in a heated argument over the implementation of a government-funded waterworks project in their village.

Laya said they have already considered the village official as one of the suspects, although the result of his paraffin test has yet to be known.

Police said they were also looking into reports that criminal elements might have killed Daguio after suspecting him of being a police informant.

Daguio’s case was the first media killing under the Aquino administration.