CPPO chief: Ronda mayor’s killing not state-sponsored

The Cebu Provincial Police Office has belied insinuations that the killing of Ronda Mayor Mariano Blanco III right inside his town’s municipal hall last Wednesday dawn was state-sponsored.

“We respect kung ano ang opinyon ng public at family, but definitely, ang ating gobyerno hindi mag-reresort sa ganitong pamamaraan kasi unang-una ang Pangulo ay naniniwala sa rule of law,” said CPPO Director Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena, who leads the Special Investigation Task Group Blanco.

Abrugena also said that they have identified persons of interest in relation to the killing and that efforts are underway to validate whether they had indeed participation to the crime.

POIs are not necessarily considered as suspects but will be invited for questioning, he said.

He did not reveal specifics about the persons of interest so as not to derail ongoing investigations.

“For the purpose of security of the investigation yun lang ang maibibigay ko na clue. On-going profiling, saan sila during the incident,” he said.

Police have also checked with the Provincial Highway Patrol Group and the Land Transportation Office regarding a white van allegedly used as getaway vehicle, which only had “3912” as plate number.

“We had a hard time determining sino ang may-ari and nasaan na ito kasi peke ang plaka, yung mark ay 3912 lang,” Abrugena said.

Probers are also checking the possibility that there were more than four assailants involved in the mayor’s killing. This after investigation showed four men were guarding two job order employees inside the town hall at the time of the killing while an unidentified number of men barged into Blanco’s office and shot him.

Police are still eyeing three possible motives: personal grudge, matters in politics, and the victim’s association with personalities with a questionable background.

“All angles ang tinitingnan, but we are focusing more on the involvement sa illegal activities and sa tao na kasama niya. Since he (Blanco) is known to be taking care of those with a questionable background, not necessarily sa drugs, and not only in drugs, may iba pang illegal activities,” he said.

Abrugena also said they will be looking into the links of Blanco’s death with that of his nephew, Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab, who was shot outside a courthouse in Cebu City last February.

He has directed the new chief of police who assumed post in Ronda today to request for augmentation force in the town.

To recall, two employees who served as watchmen of the municipal hall saw four gunmen alight from a white van and ordered them to duck early dawn of Wednesday.

They claimed hearing successive gunshots after the gunmen went up to the mayor’s office on the second floor. Blanco had used his office as his quarter since he was tagged as a narcopolitician in 2016.

Blanco was also stripped of his supervisory control over the police by National Police Commission back in 2016 after his name was linked to drugs.

Since then, the mayor had feared for his life and had taken measures to permanently sleep inside the municipal hall.

L. Avila/JMD