Hired killers behind unsolved killings in Malabon?

MANILA, Philippines - Police are focusing on a group of contract killers linked to at least three unsolved high-profile murders in Malabon City.

Sources said the gunmen who carried out the killings of dzME broadcaster Marlina Sumera, businessman Michael Buquid, and international practical shooting team member Michael Lontoc are hiding in a squatters’ colony in Barangay Catmon.

The sources said Sumera, Buquid and Lontoc were gunned down near or along M.H. del Pilar Avenue in Malabon City, which has easy access to a closed dump in Barangay Catmon.

At around 9:35 a.m. on March 24, Sumera, a resident of Barangay Maysilo, was walking a few meters away from M.H. del Pilar Avenue for a jeepney ride to dzME station when she was shot dead.

None of the suspects was arrested.

On July 20, at about 1 p.m., Buquid, owner of the drug company 20th Pharma Trade in Mandaluyong City, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding suspects, who also fled towards M.H. del Pilar Avenue.

At around 4:40 p.m., on Sept. 25, Lontoc was waylaid by at least four gunmen while he was driving his Toyota Hilux along M. H. del Pilar Avenue.