SUV owner in Aparri vice mayor’s slay identified

MANILA, Philippines — Police have identified the registered owner of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) believed used by the assailants in the ambush of Aparri Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda and his five companions in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya on Sunday.

Col. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the special investigation task group (SITG) has the name of the owner of the Mitsubishi Adventure, which was found burned in Solano town on Monday morning.

“We coordinated with the LTO. We have the name of the registered owner,” Fajardo said, referring to the Land Transportation Office.

She said the SITG is coordinating with local police units in locating the registered owner, whose name is being withheld pending results of the investigation.

Initial investigation showed the vehicle’s chassis and engine numbers were tampered with and defaced.

The LTO-Nueva Vizcaya said the killers used a fake motor vehicle plate as the original plates, similar to the one attached to the Mitsubishi Adventure, are intact and safe in the LTO storage room.

Marietta Flores, chief of the LTO-Nueva Vizcaya, said the two original plates SFN 713 have been in the possession of the LTO since March 2019.

“Records showed that the original plate number belonged to a junked vehicle of the Nueva Vizcaya State University. Since the vehicle was junked in 2018, the university deposited the plates in our office on March 5, 2019,” Flores told The STAR.

Background check

Fajardo said police are conducting a background investigation on the victims including Alameda to possibly discover leads or clues that could lead to the identities of the perpetrators of the ambush.

She said a background check on the victims is necessary as investigators are having difficulty establishing the motive for the killing.

Probers are also searching for footage of surveillance cameras installed all the way to Aparri in Cagayan to track the assailants, she said.

“Investigators are having difficulty in determining the motive for the killing as the ambush happened in Nueva Vizcaya, and the vice mayor is from Aparri in Cagayan,” Fajardo said in Filipino.

The assailants were wearing face masks and police uniform when they opened fire at the vehicle of the victims in front of a school in Barangay Baretbet.

Earlier, Fajardo expressed belief that the assailants were not police officers.