Investigators said their suspect is Cola Didato, 38, a native of Marawi City and a dry goods trader residing at Block 21, Lot 3, Datu Ismael, Area H, Dasmariñas, Cavite,
"We have a 60 to 70 percent positive match between him (Didato) and the sketch of the gunman released earlier," said Hector Geologo, agent on case and executive officer of the NBI’s Metro Manila office.
Geologo said a witness also identified Didato as the one who shot the 26-year-old Llamas after their vehicles bumped each other near the corner of Taft Avenue and Gil Puyat last Friday afternoon.
This was later confirmed by the NBI through a comparison between a photograph of Didato taken in 1998 and a police sketch of the gunman.
"He appears to be thinner in the photo but there is a striking resemblance to the sketch of the gunman," NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said.
Geologo pointed out that two days after the shooting, Didato closed his dry goods store at the Kadiwa complex in Dasmariñas, Cavite and went into hiding with his wife Noraina.
"We have reports that he is still somewhere in Metro Manila or in Cavite," he said.
He said it would be better for Didato to surrender. "If he does not surface, we will definitely hunt him down."
The NBI said yesterday that Llamas, who was among the top 25 students of his batch at Ateneo and gunning for a place in the Top 10 in the recent Bar, was definitely a "victim of road rage."
He was on his way to inquire about a teaching job at the De La Salle University when his silver Toyota Corolla bumped the suspect’s motorcycle. The collision reportedly threw Didato off his motorcycle.
An enraged Didato shot Llamas three times at close range with a 9 mm. pistol.
Didato then hailed a tricycle, leaving behind his motorcycle.
Earlier, a verification with the Land Transportation Office revealed that the motorcycle with yellow plates (VM 2047) was registered under the name of Didato.
Pasay police investigators who went to Dasmariñas, Cavite did not find Didato but discovered the motorcycle went through four other owners before him.
All four owners of the motorcycle belong to the same Muslim community but none of them ever bothered to secure a deed of sale or transfer of registration.
Authorities earlier looked into the possibility that the gunman was a Pasay cop. The other night, at least 15 Pasay policemen were placed in a lineup, but none was tagged by witnesses as the killer.
In a related development, Interior and Local Government Secretary and National Police Commission Chairman Jose Lina Jr. has ordered the Philippine National Police to submit an action plan on the control of firearm use.
Lina said the action plan is part of the effort to maintain an updated data base on all licensed firearms holders to facilitate monitoring. – With Nikko Dizon, Marvin Sy