Police: ‘Positive development’ may crack Viña slay case this week

Police probers are looking into a "highly positive development" in the ongoing investigation on the killing of controversial police official Senior Superintendent Teofilo Viña in Tanza, Cavite on Jan. 7.

"This week baka malaman na natin ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit binaril ni Medar Cruz si (Superintendent) Viña at kung sino pa ang sabit sa kaso (We may know next week the real reason why Medar Cruz shot Viña and who else are implicated in the case)," one of the investigators told The STAR on condition of anonymity.

A senior Camp Crame official said Viña’s killing may have been connected to a feud among political leaders in Cavite.

"Probers should explore this angle that while Viña’s killing could have been planned outside the country, the players could be the very people whom Viña served and closely worked with before in the province," the official said.

The official said Viña used to be closely identified with a key Cavite politician when he was still with the defunct Philippine Constabulary.

"Unfortunately, Viña switched camps and his former political bosses may have interpreted this as betrayal and, in Cavite, betrayal means sure death," the official said, claiming that this angle would be the key to the solution of the murder case.

"Examining Viña’s service record will help probers crack the case even with (Cruz’s) silence," the official said.

Cruz, 26, a balikbayan from Virginia, was arrested shortly after Viña was shot while he was at a party with Flaviano Satsatin, a barangay councilor of Barangay Santol in Tanza.

Police charge that Cruz was one of the four men who walked up to Viña and several companions and fired eight shots at the controversial police officer. The four other suspects are still at large.

Cruz has undergone a psychological test, which showed he was sane, and paraffin tests, which showed that he fired a gun.

Cruz repeatedly denied his involvement in the killing. He celebrated his 26th birthday on Jan. 8 while in detention at the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City for a still unspecified reason.

Investigators are also looking for former policeman, Renato Josue Arenas, who was seen at the crime scene but has since disappeared.

Arenas, who is also supposedly a balikbayan, reportedly told local officials he will surrender within 48 hours.

General Trias Mayor Dencito Campana and Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco are also under investigation, police said.

Police said both Campana and Velasco were present during the gathering when Viña was shot.

Velasco, however, told reporters he simply heard gunshots after he stepped out of his vehicle.

"I thought we were targets," he said, adding that he was merely visiting Satsatin when Viña was fatally shot.

"I immediately ran out and took cover when successive shots rang out. There was chaos," he said.

The police are also questioning Cruz’s father Eustacio, who was reported as saying that Viña and two other unnamed senior police officers met his son at his residence in Virginia sometime in 2001.