OGCC execs eyed in Valerio slaying

Police are looking into the possibility that some officials or employees of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) were behind the murder of chief government corporate counsel Justice Jun Valerio.

"We are looking into several leads. We are also looking into the possible involvement of some officials or employees of the OGCC," Director General Panfilo Lacson, chief of the Philippine National Police, said yesterday in an interview.

Lacson refused to elaborate.

Police officials believe that the murder was the work of a professional hit man. They are hunting down the lone gunman and the driver of a taxi which the gunman used for his getaway.

At Malacañang, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said President Estrada wants the murder case solved quickly.

"He (the President) ordered a very thorough investigation," Zamora said in a radio interview. "There were already some initial leads."

In a news briefing also at Malacañang, Press Secretary Rodolfo Reyes said Mr. Estrada was at a loss over the murder motive. "The President said [Valerio] was a good man. He is aware Atty. Valerio has no enemy," Reyes said.

Valerio, 44, is the highest official of the Estrada administration to be assassinated.

Citing initial reports reaching his office, Zamora said the motive for the killing was more likely personal than work-related, contradicting the police's suspicions.

"Of course, as government corporate counsel, he handled some controversial cases. But those mentioned in the newspapers have already been resolved," Zamora pointed out.

As chief of the OGCC, Valerio handled controversial cases such as those involving the jai alai, the sale of Pasar last year, and a land dispute between the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Nayong Pilipino.

The OGCC, a branch under the Department of Justice, takes care of corporate and labor cases involving government-run corporations. Police are digging into the hundreds of cases Valerio handled, looking for clues.

Deputy OGCC director Elpidio Vega, the second in command to Valerio, has expressed willingness to allow investigators to sift through cases recently handled by the OGCC.

Vega told The STAR that he had no idea what case could be related to the murder. "There are just too many cases and we cannot ascertain what could cause his death," he said.

Vega's colleagues - assistant government corporate counsels Antonio Brillantes, Rodolfo Sabio and Aida Reyes - hold the same view.

At the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame, ballistics experts of the PNP Crime Laboratory examining the two bullets taken from the victim's body are having difficulty identifying the murder weapon.

In an interview with The STAR, PNP Crime Laboratory Service director Chief Superintendent Hercules Cataluna said, "The two slugs are badly deformed. But based on our initial examination, they could have been fired from a caliber .38 revolver or a 9-mm. pistol."

Once the type of slugs is determined, this will be compared with those on file at the PNP's Firearms and Explosives Division to determine which guns were used - that would, hopefully, lead them to their eventual owner.

But it's a long shot. Based on past incidents, criminals usually do not use licensed guns.

Valerio was shot at close range in the chest and back after he got down from his Toyota Prado in front of his house in Barangay Pinyahan in Quezon City early Saturday morning. He died on his way to the hospital.

Concerned over the killing, Sen. Juan Flavier called on the police and the military to provide security to government officials who are likely targets for assassination.

Flavier said many officials occupy sensitive positions that could earn them enemies. "Unless we provide them with sufficient security and peace of mind, many honest and competent people will leave the government or refuse to join the civil service altogether," he said. -