5 police teams out to get Lanot’s killer

Five police teams were dispatched to the provinces yesterday to get the killers of former Pasig City Rep. Henry Lanot.

Metro police chief Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr. refused to say where elements of Task Force Lanot are deployed. "All I could say it that they are out to get the killers of Lanot," he said in an interview.

Lanot was gunned down while having lunch with former Caloocan City Rep. Romeo Santos inside the Jade Palace restaurant along Pasig Ave. in Barangay Bagong Ilog last April 13.

Earlier, Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD) and concurrent Task Force Lanot head, said the lone assassin of Lanot has two companions inside the restaurant. "The gunman was confident in committing the crime and we found out that he has two companions inside the building," said Valenzuela.

He added that the gunman used a bag to muffle the sound of the gunshot so as not to attract attention.

The bag also catched the spent shell, thus preventing the crime laboratory of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from tracing the owner of the firearm.

Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, crime lab chief said Lanot was shot by a caliber .45 automatic pistol.

The slug recovered at Lanot’s right jaw showed additional scratches. "There is a big possibility that the gun of the assassin had a silencer," said Belen.

Razon said one of the gunman’s companion was monitored near the restaurant’s front door while another was "close" to Lanot.

Lanot’s eldest son, Ken, and the victim’s supporters have expressed strong belief that the murder was "politically motivated."

However, Pasig City Mayor Vicente Eusebio, who reported back to work last Tuesday after a month’s vacation abroad, refused to comment on Lanot’s killing. "Nakikiramay ako sa pamilya ni Lanot (I express my condolences to the family of Lanot)," was all Eusebio could say when asked to comment on the incident.

The Pasig City government and PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao have offered a P100,000 reward each for information leading to the capture of the gunman. — Non Alquitran