Cops closing in on gunman in Zambo Sur mayor’s slay

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities are hunting down the principal suspect in last Friday’s killing of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur Mayor Ukol Talumpa at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City.

Elements from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are reportedly closing in on the gunman identified only as Marox, who is believed to be hiding in Metro Manila.

A police official who asked not to be named told The STAR that Marox was positively identified by some of the mayor’s companions and witnesses to the incident as the one who shot and killed Talumpa.

The official said Marox was also tagged as one of the suspects in a grenade attack against Talumpa in Pagadian City years ago.

“We are waiting for other documents from our counterparts in Zamboanga regarding Marox’s Pagadian case so we could have an airtight case against him,” the police official said.

The Special Investigation Task Group Ukol is checking reports that Marox was a former bodyguard of former Labangan mayor Kitty Nandang, Talumpa’s political rival.

According to the source, former mayor Nandang left Labangan after he lost to Talumpa in the last election. He is a native of Maguindanao. Police are now also hunting him down in Mindanao provinces.

SITG Ukol said it has received no report that Nandang has gone abroad. His henchman Marox has not been seen in Labangan town since the ambush of Talumpa.

The task force said they have no hard evidence that Nandang was the mastermind of the ambush.

“That’s why we are bent on arresting Marox because he alone is the link to the mastermind,” the source said.

Three security men escorted Talumpa and his group when they traveled to Manila last Friday, the official said.

Talumpa’s security escorts were retrieving their service firearms from a counter of the NAIA Terminal 3 when Marox reportedly opened fire at the mayor and his wife at the passengers’ loading bay.

“The three security escorts were helpless in stopping Marox as they were unarmed. They were in the process of retrieving their handguns, which coincidentally were sealed,” the official said, hinting Talumpa’s bodyguards were police officers.

Aside from the mayor and his wife, killed were his nephew Saripudon and 18-month-old Gil Thomas Lirazan, who arrived with his parents from Bacolod City.

Five other people were injured in the incident.

The STAR source said Talumpa’s security escorts and passengers from Bacolod have positively identified Marox as the lone gunman.

At least 17 slugs and a magazine for a caliber .45 pistol were recovered at the crime scene.

Authorities have yet to identify the driver of the getaway motorcycle.

The STAR source said they are preparing multiple murder and frustrated murder charges against Marox and his companion.

For his part, NCRPO chief Director Carmelo Valmoria expressed confidence the SITG Ukol headed by Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, deputy director for operation of the Southern Police District (SPD), could immediately solve the case.

“We have pieces of evidence. My men are working on this case even on Christmas Day. So we expect results very soon,” said Valmoria.

He said they are building an airtight case against Marox. He admitted the SITG Ukol have positive developments in their investigation, although he refused to reveal them pending the filing of charges.

The SITG will meet at the SPD headquarters in Fort Bonifacio today, apparently to discuss the filing of charges against Marox.