Sumera killers sent off to provinces?

MANILA, Philippines - The killers of radio anchor Marlina Sumera in Malabon City were reportedly sent off to the provinces until their “handler” summons them for another job, police sources said yesterday.

“These contract killers are trained assassins for many of them are former members of the New People’s Army liquidation squad who broke away… and turned hired guns,” the source said.

Another source said the handler reportedly remains at the group’s lair in a squatter colony in Barangay Catmon.

Sumera was shot dead a few meters away from her house as she was on her way to work at radio station dzME on March 24.

Police believe that an ongoing land dispute between two homeowners’ groups, one headed by Sumera and the other headed by Emma Nuqui, is the most likely motive behind Sumera’s murder.

Superintendent Rio Gata-cilo, Northern Police District (NPD) public information officer and spokesman of Task Force Sumera, said Nuqui is not yet considered a suspect but that they will invite her “to give her side of the story.”

He said they are still tracking down Sumera’s killers, who were also tagged in the murder of Navotas City barangay chairman Edwin Abella last March 15.

NPD director Chief Superintendent Edgardo Ladao released last week sketches of Sumera’s killers and raised the reward for their capture to P450,000.      –