Vice mayor’s killers knew when to strike

The killers knew that Perfecto Cebedo, slain vice mayor of Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte, never failed to attend the birthday party of his friend and political ally, Romeo Jalosjos at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City, police said yesterday.

City police chief Superintendent Erasto Lim Sanchez said Cebedo and his family spent almost the entire Sunday afternoon with Jalosjos and the former congressman’s other well-wishers at the NBP.

"Then from the NBP, they passed the (Filinvest) Corporate City on their way home to Las Pinas. That was where the killers waited for them," Sanchez said in a phone interview.

The police chief said investigators have already spoken with Jalosjos, a former Zamboanga del Norte representative convicted of rape. "According to Mr. Jalosjos, the victim did not mention anything about their rival political clan. But he noticed that unlike before when Cebedo would mingle with other mayors and vice mayors who visited him on his birthday, the victim never left his side that afternoon," Sanchez said.

He reiterated the statement of his superior, Southern Police District (SPD) chief Superintendent Jose Gutierrez Jr., that police are still gathering information about the alleged involvement of members of a rival political clan in the killing, as claimed by the victim’s family.

Sanchez said Cebedo’s widow, Julieta, told police that they have been receiving death threats.

"There were two previous attempts on the life of the vice mayor before Sunday’s incident," he said.

Sanchez said at the moment, investigators consider the killers’ getaway car as the "key" in solving Cebedo’s murder.

Police earlier traced the ownership of the getaway vehicle, a red 1994 Toyota Corolla (TNW 707), to a certain Emerson Ong of Binondo, Manila. But investigators learned last Monday that Ong left the address listed in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) registration a year ago. The house is now occupied by another family.

He added that police still have "protective custody" of the victim’s driver, Marclyn Gabrines.

"He is not a suspect in this case. He doesn’t have a formal statement yet. But when we interviewed him, all he said was he doesn’t know anything," Sanchez said. – Nikko Dizon