MANILA, Philippines - Police filed murder charges yesterday against two brothers, a policeman and a jail guard, for killing a utility aide of Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno.
The brothers – Police Officer 2 Geoffrey Borromeo, detailed at the Regional Headquarters Support Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office, and Jail Officer 3 Frederick Borromeo – were identified by witnesses as the gunman and driver of the getaway motorcycle, respectively, in the killing of Jonathan Ignacio, according to Manila Police District director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla.
A manhunt led by MPD homicide section chief Inspector Armando Macaraeg proved futile as the brothers remain at large.
Ignacio was sleeping in his rented room at the third floor of a house along Prudencia street, Tondo when Geoffrey reportedly barged in.
Police said Geoffrey kicked open the door and without a word shot Ignacio three times in the head with a baby Armalite rifle. Ignacio’s partner, Vanessa Debuet, and her three-year-old son, who were sleeping beside him, were not hit.
Ignacio’s 16-year-old son said Geoffrey warned them they would also be shot if they moved or talked, investigators said.
Geoffrey then fled on a motorcycle driven by Frederick. Their escape was captured by a closed-circuit television camera installed at a nearby building.
Police recovered three empty shells from a baby Armalite rifle in the victim’s mattress.
Rongavilla said vengeance was the motive for the killing.
According to Macaraeg, hours before Ignacio was killed, one of the Borromeo brothers, Sirdeniel, figured in a shooting with Ignacio’s brother Alexander.
Sirdeniel is in critical condition at the Metropolitan Hospital for a gunshot wound in the face, while Alexander was hit in the thigh.
“The Borromeo brothers avenged the shooting of Sirdeniel by turning their ire on Jonathan, who reportedly had nothing to do with the earlier shootout. It was plain retaliation on the part of the two Borromeo brothers,” Macaraeg said.
Rongavilla stressed that there is no threat to the security of Moreno despite the killing of one of his aides.