Malabon's hired killers led by former rebel, village official?

MANILA, Philippines - One of the handlers of a group of contract killers in Malabon City is a former member of a rebel urban hit squad while the other is an active village officer, police sources said yesterday.

“Ka Digo is a trained assassin, being a former member of a communist rebel hit squad turned gun-for-hire, while the local village officer has a well-entrenched connection with influential people,” a police official who requested anonymity said.

He said Ka Digo, who stays in the province and only goes to Malabon to arrange hits, has several men ready to carry out a “mission” for the right price. “When Ka Digo surfaces at their lair, someone must die,” the source said, adding that most of Ka Digo’s men live in the middle of a large shantytown in Barangay Dampalit.

The village officer, another source said, has ties to local politicians and is considered “untouchable” by police officers despite his “underground” connections.

Sources said the Dampalit group of hired guns are reportedly linked to three recent killings in Malabon City – the murder of radio broadcaster Marlina Sumera on March 24, the July 20 killing of businessman Michael Buquid, and the ambush-slay of shooter Michael Lontoc last month.

The National Bureau of Investigation is handling the Sumera and Buquid’s murder cases while the National Capital Region Police Office, the local police and the military are conducting deeper probe of Lontoc’s case.

The murders of Sumera, Buquid and Lontoc are only some of several unsolved killings in Malabon City. The latest murders are that of 60-year-old businessman Joseph Tancanco and former police officer Ronald Roxas this week.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed Tancanco in front of his house in Barangay Acacia on Oct. 23 and Roxas along C-4 Road in Barangay Longos Thursday.