QC government employee's killing linked to land dispute

The killing of a Quezon City Hall employee over the weekend could be related to a land dispute concerning old properties in the city, a police official said yesterday.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District, also said they have already traced the owner of the vehicle abandoned by the assailants who killed Jesus Sinambal last Sunday.

Mabanag said the black Ford Lynx (CRJ-893) left behind by the suspects is registered to a certain Frisco Marilla in San Isidro, Macabebe in Bulacan.

According to Mabanag, operatives went to Bulacan yesterday to locate Marilla and determine whether he was related to the killing, which “stemmed from a land dispute.”

“It’s complicated and started a long time ago regarding lands in Quezon City covered by Spanish titles,” Mabanag told reporters, noting that the dispute was in connection with the special power of attorney issued for these properties.

Sinambal, 63, an employee at the Quezon City civil registrar’s office, was gunned down as he was driving to church along Pinnacle Drive in Barangay Culiat.         – Reinir Padua