DOJ mum on identity but says video call with hired killers tags suspect
The killer sof Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo had a video call with the mastermind behind the March 4 assassination, Justice Secretary Jesus Crisin Remulla said Wednesday, adding that the case would be “wrapped up soon.”
Two of the suspects—Joven Javier and Osmundo Rivero—tagged a “prominent person” as having ordered the hit through a middleman identified as “Marvin,” GMA News reported, quoting a source who asked not to be identified.
The source said four plans were drafted on how to kill Degamo—by an ambush, by a sniper attack, by intercepting him in public, and by attacking his residence.
As this developed, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured the families of Degamo and the eight other victims killed during the attack that the government will seek justice for their slain loved ones.
“I just came here to condole with the family of Gov. Roel. we asked them what else needs to be done, how can we help the victims, including those who are still confined at the hospital,” the commander-in-chief said during his visit to the wake of the late governor.
“The relatives and spouses of the fatalities are here so we were able to talk to them. I assured them they can count on it that there will be justice here in your province that has become too chaotic. So that’s all that I’d like to say,” Mr. Marcos added.
Remulla, for his part, did not say who was on the video call or what was said, but added that it had “probative value” in the investigation.
“There was no mention of motive but the person they had a conversation with was on video. A live conversation happened on video with the person that is supposedly the mastermind,” Remulla said. “There’s a probative value.”
Remulla expressed confidence that the “end is near” for the investigation of the Degamo case, noting the preliminary statements given by the arrested suspects.
“I only have read the preliminary statements that were done and I can say that the end is near,” he said.
“This can be wrapped up soon, except that not all the perpetrators have been rounded up,” he added.
Four suspects are already in police custody while about five others are still at large, police earlier said. One suspect was killed in a shootout with police.
Government prosecutors have filed murder and frustrated murder charges against the four arrested suspects in the killing.
Gunmen killed Degamo and five others on Saturday, March 4, while he was distributing aid to his constituents at his residence in Pamplona, Negros Oriental. The death toll climbed to nine the following day as some of those critically wounded in the attack died.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) previously said it is eyeing placing two of the suspects under the witness protection program.
Remulla said he read the statement made by one of the suspects.
“There’s a statement already to the effect that there was a mastermind, but we have to evaluate it properly,” he said, without elaborating. “I cannot confirm any details as of now.”
Lawyers would be appointed to represent the suspects, he said.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has already ordered the replacement of all police personnel in Negros Oriental following Degamo’s assassination.
Meanwhile, the governor’s wife, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, said she believed the person behind his killing was the same one who had threatened him in the past.
“There is only one person,” she said in Filipino on Dobol B TV.
“If you will go back, there was a time in Kalibo, an X-Trail was intercepted, loaded with guns and ammunition. Someone tipped the governor that that vehicle was on its way to Negros Oriental for him,” she said.
The mayor said Degamo had received more threats, including one just before he took his oath.
She said he brought these concerns to the responsible officials and agencies.
“In the history of this province, there’s no record of a mayor, congressman or governor being shot by a rival, but this group is different,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.
She said she supported placing two of the suspects under the witness protection program to unmask the mastermind.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) confirmed that two of the suspects were taken by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to talk about the mastermind.
In an interview on radio dzRH, PNP spokesperson Jean Fajardo said the information the suspects offered was “significant and material.”
Meanwhile, the PNP said it has relieved 75 officers in the Bayawan City police force after the March 4 assassination.
Police Lt. Col. Stephen Amamaguid, former PPSMU, NOPPO from Cebu took over as the new chief of police of Bayawan City Police Station.
“The PNP is taking swift action to address the recent tragic event in Negros Oriental. We will do everything within our authority to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Gov. Roel Degamo and other victims of this senseless act of violence”, Lt Gen. Rhodel Sermonia said.
Reports said gunmen had fled to Bayawan City, where the firearms used in the attack were recovered.
Lawmakers expressed dismay over the apparent inability of the PNP to stop political killings such as Degamo’s assassination.
Misamis Occidental Rep. Ando Oaminal raised this concern at an unannounced inquiry before the House committee on public order and security.
“There were only four victims during the last hearing. But this time, Governor Degamo has been added to the list,” Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, the panel’s chairperson, said.
Fernandez echoed the President’s concern that the series of killings involving politicians “is really alarming.”
“It’s high time for us…to find out what measures you are using to prevent situations like this,”
Fernandez said, addressing the PNP officials who attended the hearing as resource persons.
Oaminal, for his part, asked why the PNP was not able to prevent the Degamo killing when the governor himself declared then that there was as a validated threat.
“What assurance can the organization or the institution give us? Because these threats have already been confirmed and validated,” he said.
PNP Directorate for Personnel Records and Management head Gen. Matthew Baccay failed to offer any concrete answers, saying that under an existing circular, each elected official can be given only two police escorts.
The House on Wednesday adopted a resolution expressing its condolences to the Degamo family.