Blanco associated with shady characters: reports reaching CPPO

That mayor took care of questionable characters is open secret, says official

Investigators are looking into reports that slain Ronda mayor Mariano Blanco III was involved in various illegal activities, including coddling guns-for-hire.

The special investigation task group (SITG) that was formed to solve Blanco’s murder has identified “persons of interest” in the killing last Wednesday dawn.

SITG suspects that the mayor’s killers are hitmen and are involved in the illegal drug trade.

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Manuel Javier Abrugena, SITG commander, said they received reports that Blanco was associated with rogue personalities.

The mayor succumbed to at least four gunshot wounds in the body after four armed men barged inside his office past 1 a.m. last Wednesday. The attack lasted for two minutes and police recovered empty shells of M16 bullets.

“It is an open secret in Ronda that the late mayor was known to be taking care of people who we can say have questionable character,” he said.

Abrugena said this is the “nearest reason” for the murder of Blanco, who was stripped of his police power after he was included in the narco-list of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Abrugena said they are also looking into the murder of former Ronda vice mayor and lawyer John Ungab, who was attacked by riding-in-tandem assailants after attending a court hearing on self-confessed Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa in Cebu City last February.

Abrugena said someone overheard a member of Blanco’s immediate family say that the attack on the mayor would not have happened had Ungab not been killed.

Abrugena did not say how many persons of interest they now have, but they are profiling them and checking their background.

The SITG members have a hard time identifying the owner of the white van used as getaway vehicle of the killers.

“We believe na pekeng plaka ang ginamit and at the same time numbers lang po ang nakuha, yung 3912 (They used a fake vehicle plate),” Abrugena said.

Abrugena welcomes the plan of Blanco’s family to tap the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 to help solve the crime.

NBI 7 officer-in-charge lawyer Dominador Cimafranca said they received a letter from Blanco’s brother yesterday morning requesting an investigation.

“We will conduct a probe with the coordination of other law enforcement agencies. Mo-coordinate ug mo-collaborate mi nila. Ipakita namo nga nagkahiusa ang

Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Manuel Javier Abrugena said someone overheard a member of Mayor Mariano Blanco III’s immediate family say that the attack on the mayor would not have happened had the late vice mayor John Ungab not been killed.

mga law enforcement agencies and the community (We will show to the public that law enforcement agencies and the community are united),” Cimafranca said.

For its part, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7 has started its investigation, sending a team of CHR 7 investigators led by chief investigator Leo Villarino to Ronda yesterday.

Villarino said they want to know if the police did their jobs especially since Blanco was the second local official from Ronda who was killed this year.

The Police Regional Office 7 relieved Ronda’s police chief and 10 police officers a day after Blanco was murdered.

“We want to know if they conducted a meaningful investigation on these incidents considering that two of Ronda’s high-ranking officials were killed on the same year,” Villarino said.

But he said their investigation might encounter some difficulties especially since the police chief assigned in Ronda just before Blanco was killed had been transferred to another assignment.

Insp. Renato Albuera replaced Senior Insp. Jay-R Palcon as town police chief in a ceremony at the Ronda Police Station at 9 a.m. yesterday.

Ten other officers were also relieved.