Police: Unpaid debt most probable motive in killing of Argao teacher

CEBU, Philippines - Of the several angles being looked into, the police are giving more weight on the angle on debt as the motive in the killing of an elementary teacher in Argao last Wednesday.

  This as the Cebu Provincial Government ordered for the immediate release of a P20,000 cash assistance to the family of Romeo Duran, a Grade 6 teacher of Binlod Elementary School.  

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia also personally went to the Cebu Provincial Police Office yesterday to get a briefing on the case and instruct provincial police director Erson Digal to fast track their investigation and immediately arrest the suspects.

Chief Supt. Lani-O Nerez, director of Police Regional Office-7, said that if they level all the angles they are looking into the killing of Romeo Duran, the angle on debt has the most probability.

  However, Nerez told reporters yesterday that they are still not ruling out other angles that they have earlier theorized which include the possibility of a relationship that went sour and dispute against his siblings.

   Aside from a special investigating team organized by Argao Police Station chief Teodulfo Manatad III, Nerez has also created a task force to look into the incident to identify the culprits and eventually determine the motive of the crime.

According to Manatad, Duran, 52, a native of Negros Occidental and described as a homosexual, was indebted to several persons or somewhere in Cebu province.

  Manatad said that they are now trying to check who are those persons whom Duran has unpaid debts with.

  They will also include in their investigation the alleged lover of Duran though they are still verifying whether his lover is a woman or of the same sex.

  According to Duran’s co-teachers and neighbors, he had no enemies in their school and in their place.

  Nerez said the police has already came up with a description of the gunman who shot the victim to death in front of his pupils but they are still gathering more details regarding the assailant’s identity as well as his three alleged cohorts that served as lookouts.

  Manatad said they will soon come up with the cartographic sketch of the gunman and his cohorts while the traumatized students are still undergoing stress debriefing with officers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-7.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers condemns the murder of Duran, describing it is as “immoral, anti-people, anti-God” and worse, it has caused an irreparable damage to the students who witnessed the crime.

ACT regional coordinator Edgar Gahisan, told The Freeman that Duran’s right as teacher and employee was violated by failure of the government to provide occupational security to them and to the students.

Gahisan said the school should have been fenced and should have a security system regulating and at the same time monitoring the traffic of visitors.

“Public schools should be guarded. The Department of Education must look into the welfare and safety of children and teachers labi na sa bukid kung asa ang mga classrooms wala’y doors, dilapidated and rooms, walay gate. So anybody can just go inside and rob the teacher or worse, like what happened in Argao, kill the teacher,” Gahisan said.

He added that killings of teachers could be worse during elections as teachers will serve as election inspectors, “With all the culture of violence here especially during elections, ang mga teachers ang maiipit.”

Gahisan said that it is time for the government to allot more budget for education so teachers and students can enjoy nice classrooms and facilities.

He said that they are now looking into the case of Duran and after careful assessment, they aim to verify new policies that must be created to further enhance and protect the welfare of teachers. — Niña G. Sumacot, Jessica Ann R. Pareja and Jose P. Sollano/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)