Gunman in tabloid writer’s slay named

MANILA, Philippines — Charges are being readied against the alleged gunman in last Sunday’s killing of a tabloid columnist-reporter and his companion in Arayat, Pampanga.

Armando Velasco will be charged with double murder, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, who co-chairs the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), said yesterday.

Authorities said the gunman is a public relations officer for a perya or local carnival in Barangay Cacutud.

Velasco sent surrender feelers through his wife, Andanar said, citing a report from PTFoMS executive director Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco.

Probers are looking at the links to the carnival operation in the killing of Jupiter Gonzales of Remate and Christopher Tiongson in the reporter’s car.

Footage from a closed-circuit television camera showed that the suspect tried to push Gonzales from the driver’s seat, but the victim managed to sped off before crashing into a plant box.

Egco said investigation showed that Gonzales knew the killer.

Meanwhile, the brother of the suspect, Rodelio, turned over to the Arayat police on Wednesday a caliber .45 pistol allegedly used in the killing.