Suspect in Ballacillo killing nabbed

One of two gunmen in the murder of Assistant Solicitor General Nestor Ballacillo and his son last Dec. 6 was arrested in a joint operation by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Parañaque City police.

The suspect Christopher Garcia, 27, alias Benjamin Bermudez, was arrested while confined at the Philippine General Hospital while undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

He was later transferred to the Jose P. Rizal Memorial Hospital in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Chief Inspector Rommel Macatlang of the CIDG said Garcia was wounded in a robbery on Christmas Eve when his intended victim managed to wrestle the gun from him and shoot him thrice, hitting him in the abdomen. Garcia is now under heavy guard.

The NBI, local police and the CIDG have at least five witnesses who have positively identified Garcia as the triggerman in the Ballacillo killings.

Ballacillo and his son Benedict were gunned down on the morning of Dec. 6 while waiting for a ride in Barangay San Antonio, Parañaque City.

Five witnesses — PO1 Gary Eusebio, his cousin PO2 Jessie Eusebio, a security guard, and two young boys — allegedly saw Garcia and his accomplice gun down the Ballacillos.

Police said the breakthrough came after tipsters informed the police that they overheard Garcia bragging to his friends in a drinking spree in Bacoor, Cavite, that he was the gunman in the killing.

Garcia claimed that the government official was the only target and his son had to be shot as well. He added that he shot both father and son.

After making sure that the Ballacillos were dead, Garcia and his partner grabbed Ballacillo’s bag containing documents and his wallet and fled. The killers left the victim’s Nokia 9500 mobile phone.

Police said Garcia’s partner was a certain "Nato," who is now being the subject of a nationwide manhunt.

Records showed that Garcia was allegedly a notorious "police character" with at least 20 pending warrants of arrest for murder, frustrated murder, illegal drugs, carnapping, robbery, among others committed in Cavite and Metro Manila.

The CIDG and the NBI are still trying to identify the mastermind. Police said they would look into the possibility if the killings have something to do with the dispute over the idle new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA-3).

Ballacillo had been arguing the government’s case in a legal battle over a terminal built by a consortium of Fraport AG and its Filipino partners in Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco).

Ballacillo is the second official linked to the Piatco case to be killed.

In December 2005, Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Henrick Gingoyon — who had ordered the government to pay an initial P3 billion for the terminal — was ambushed and killed.

The $650-million terminal was built under a deal with the government in 1998. But after President Arroyo came to office, she revoked the contract in 2002, citing what her advisers said were terms that were unfavorable to the government.

The government has since taken on the terminal, although a Pasay court has ordered it to pay Piatco compensation of an initial P3 billion.