'Rival bookies had DBP employee killed'

MANILA, Philippines –  A Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) employee who was shot dead in Makati City Friday morning could have been ordered killed by a group of ex-policemen whose bookie operations in Manila he could have disrupted, an official said yesterday.

“We are not sure if (Roldan Hernandez) had operated his bookie operations alone or if he had a partner. But we have intelligence given by an asset to show that he had earned the ire of a rival group composed of ex-policemen,” Makati police chief Senior Superintendent Froilan Bonifacio said.

He said Hernandez’s fellow employees at the DBP told police he received threatening text messages two weeks before he was ambushed at around 7:45 a.m. by a gunman riding tandem on a motorcycle as his car approached the corner of Zapote Road and Kalayaan Avenue in Barangay Olympia. He was on his way to work at the DBP’s Office of the Legal Counsel as a process server.

 Police said intelligence shows that Hernandez, 50, allegedly earned the ire of a group of ex-policemen who reportedly operates a bookie operation in Manila after loyal bettors decided to place their bets with him instead.

The text message read, “Odan, ikaw na lang ang sagabal (Odan, you are the remaining hindrance).” Police said Odan is the victim’s nickname.

Bonifacio said they are still trying to establish the identities of the ex-policemen and the extent of their bookie operation. He said they are also tracing the source of the threatening text message received by the victim.

Initial reports reaching the Makati City Police Station 1 said Hernandez was shot once in the head and twice  in the body. Three spent shells from a .45 caliber pistol were recovered at the crime scene.