Malacañang wants Gingoyon murder brains unmasked

Malacañang praised authorities yesterday for the arrest of suspects in the New Year’s Eve assassination of Pasay City Judge Henrick Gingoyon but said the mastermind remains unknown.

"The authorities deserve to be commended for their swift action on the case and we expect all leads to be exhausted until the mastermind is brought to justice," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye stressed the need to unmask the brains behind the killing of Gingoyon "to regain the public’s trust and confidence in our law enforcement agencies through the speedy resolution of high profile cases."

As this developed, police filed murder charges against the six suspects in the killing of Gingoyon before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Charged were Rodolfo Cuer, Mark Datas, Rodolfo Baclor, Efren Samonte, Felimon Rabino and a certain Danny. They are all still being interrogated by the police.

Cavite police director Senior Superintendent Benjardi Mantele said Cuer was positively identified by witnesses as the alleged triggerman, while Datas provided the getaway vehicles, Baclor and Samonte maintained the safehouse where the plan was hatched and Rabino allegedly provided the weapons.

Mantele said they are still investigating the suspects to find out the motive for the assassination.

"If there is another (angle) we will continue the investigation. So far, four witnesses have identified Cuer as the gunman. But we have yet to find out the motive and the identity of the mastermind," Mantele said.

He said five of the six suspects had been paid P150,000 to kill Gingoyon. The suspects, however, claimed they only received P5,000 as partial payment with the balance to be paid after the hit.

Mantele claimed no one among the suspects mentioned a police officer hiring them to assassinate Gingoyon.

It was gathered that Cuer was also implicated in the killing of Yuhara Tsutomo, who was found murdered inside his residence in Las Piñas City last Nov. 3.

Sources said Cuer was identified by a witness as the one who allegedly shot Tsutomo as claimed by an investigator of the Las Piñas police.

Tsutomo was apparently murdered over a case of business dispute being handled by Gingoyon which could be among the reasons why the judge was assassinated last Dec. 31, sources claimed.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) believed there was a conspiracy behind the assassination.

"We’re not closing the book, precisely the tactical interrogation (of the suspects) is going on. Certainly the people you have here are not the masterminds," Gonzalez said.

The NBI will also include another suspect, Said Sulayman, in the charges as the one who allegedly worked out the plan on how to assassinate Gingoyon.

Gonzalez, however, ruled out any link between the murder and the case decided by Gingoyon over the dispute between the government and the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) in the takeover of the mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

Gonzalez said the ruling Gingoyon made in favor of Piatco "is very far away from this (murder)."

Gingoyon was gunned down by two men riding tandem on a motorcycle in Soldier Hills in Barangay Molino, Bacoor in the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2005.

Investigators initially confirmed there had been threats on Gingoyon’s life, and the judge reportedly told a friend that he wanted to leave the judiciary because of these threats.

Earlier this year, his house had been shot at and he had sought help, suspecting that a chief of police in one of the towns in Cavite was behind the shootings.

The shooting occurred about a week after Gingoyon had objected to the promotion of the police chief.

Gingoyon had also objected to an award given to the police officer, saying that he routinely engaged in "planting" evidence to justify his arrests.

Sources close to Gingoyon said the police officer was the only known enemy of the judge.

Reports have tagged Senior Superintendent Manuel Barcena as the same police official implicated in the ambush.

Barcena, PNP Civil Service Group deputy chief for intelligence, however denied the allegations.

Barcena made the denial even as the suspects in the killing were arrested by joint teams of the NBI and the Philippine National Police in separate operations in Cavite last Tuesday.

Barcena admitted he had a "dispute" with Gingoyon but "it was purely legal in nature and entirely related to the performance of my duties as a police officer."

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said Barcena would be available for investigation.

For his part, Southern Tagalog police director Chief Superintendent Jesus Verzoza, Task Force Gingoyon chief, vowed to exhaust all efforts to unmask the mastermind in the murder.

Verzoza denied apprehensions that the suspects are "fall guys."

The plan

The NBI and PNP initially invited seven people for questioning last Tuesday.

However, the investigators said they could not include some of them in the charge sheet since they are still verifying their participation in the murder.

"We are still in the process of elimination," NBI Special Investigator Ana Labao, of Task Force Gingoyon, said.

NBI-National Capital Region director Ruel Lasala said they are not at liberty to divulge the identity of the suspected mastermind since it could compromise the progress of their investigation.

"With respect to the mastermind, we are still conducting a follow up or further investigation to unearth the real mastermind," Lasala said.

Four of the suspects have been linked to high profile robbery incidents, Lasala said.

The mastermind reportedly hired the suspects with the promise of P150,000 payment but paid P50,000 as "down payment," a claim denied by the suspects.

Labao added one of the suspects she refused to identify even "executed an extra-judicial confession, wherein he gave the specific roles of the suspects in the assassination as well as the names of the other personalities."

Narrating their investigation of the murder, Labao said that a few hours before the killing, Baclor went up to the second floor gym and had a talk with the owner and scouted around, pretending to be interested in becoming a member.

Baclor reportedly looked through the logbook of the visitors and saw the lone entry of Gingoyon.

Labao said it was possible that the suspects were either not familiar with the judge’s appearance or that they were merely confirming if he was in the premises.

"The judge even exchanged ‘Happy New Year’ greetings with the gym owner," she said.

Since the victim’s workout time is from 11:50 a.m. until 12:20 p.m., Cuer and Datas reportedly decided to pass the time playing inside a billiards hall located below the gym.

Witnesses said the blue motorcycle which was used as getaway vehicle by the suspects was spotted a few meters away. Authorities were able to get its license plate number, but it turned out to be fake.

When Gingoyon finally stepped out of the gym, the three suspects tailed him with Datas and Baclor riding in tandem on the motorcycle while Cuer walked behind.

Cuer reportedly opened fire when the victim was just a few meters away from his residence. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Evelyn Macairan, Christina Mendez, John Paul Jubelag