LAGUNA, Philippines – Police yesterday arrested four suspected guns for hire, including a son of executed domestic helper Flor Contemplacion, tagged in the killing of a barangay councilor and wounding of a relative of a mayoral candidate in San Pablo City last Thursday.
Police said Romulo Contemplacion, Romeo Castro, Salvador Borromeo and Enalpe Cajida were identified in the killing of village councilman Roland Acbang.
The victim was putting up posters of a mayoral candidate when two men riding on a motorcycle approached and shot him at close range in Barangay San Crispin.
Hours later, Rardine Mercado, 33, said to be a relative of a mayoral candidate in the city, was shot and wounded by two armed men in Barangay Francisco.
Laguna police director Senior Superintendent Pascual Muñoz said Contemplacion was identified by a witness as among the guns for hire operating in the province.
He is the son of Flor Contemplacion, the maid sentenced to death by hanging in Singapore in 1995 for killing another Filipino domestic helper Delia Magat and her four-year-old ward.
Her execution strained relations between the Philippines and Singapore.
On the other hand, Contemplacion’s three other sons, Sandrex and twins Jun-Jun and Joel, were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of drug pushing in 2011.
Muñoz added concerned residents led policemen to the suspected hideout of Contemplacion’s gangmates in Barangay San Diego.
Lawmen seized from the suspects a .45 caliber pistol, a shotgun, three hand grenades, several kinds of ammunition, some P39,000 cash and three cellular phones supposedly containing messages from their contacts and their targets.