Murder suspect also tagged in Zambo slay roaming freely

MANILA, Philippines - A man arrested by the Taguig City police last June 4 for murder and frustrated murder was found to be a member of a gun-for-hire syndicate who should have been in jail for the 2001 killing of a town mayor in Zamboanga del Norte.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Leonardo Espina has ordered a deeper probe on why the suspect, Juditho Cara, roams freely instead of being detained at the Custodial Security Office (CSO) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

Espina vowed that there would be no whitewash in the investigation on Cara’s case.

“Let the ax fall where it may. Those res-ponsible for this violation of the law should be punished severely,” he said.

The Taguig City police arrested Cara, along with two others, including a former policeman, last June 4 for the killing of a certain George Franco and the wounding of another man in Lower Bicutan.

Chief Inspector Benito Basilio Jr., investigation unit chief of the Taguig City police, said Cara gave the NCRPO headquarters as his address during initial questioning.

Quizzed further, Cara revealed that he was a detainee at the CSO for the killing of Mayor Victorino Cebedo of Rizal town, Zamboanga del Norte two weeks before the 2001 elections.

In his testimony, Cara pointed to Mayor Rey Yap of Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental as the one who allegedly hired him to kill Cebedo, a political rival.

Yap himself was killed in an ambush while attending the hearing of the case at the Manila City Hall compound in 2008.

According to a court employee, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 41 ordered Cara transferred thrice to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City but CSO officials managed to appeal that he remained in their custody.