Hired guns eyed in Chan slay

CAMP OSCAR FLORENDO, San Fernando City – Police authorities in Region 1 are zeroing in on guns-for-hire in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte as prime suspects in the killing of former Ilocos Sur auditor Agustin Chan Jr.

Police Superintendent Fidel Cimatu, Ilocos Sur provincial police director, expressed optimism that the Chan killing will be solved soon.

He said they have already identified all the suspects who were possibly hired by those who were aggrieved by Chan’s audit report. Government probers from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the provincial police and, soon, the National Bureau of Investigation, are conducting separate probes on the slaying.

Cimatu said that Chan’s slay was definitely job-related, as he admitted that they have already stricken out the personal angle in the ambush-slay.

Ilocos Sur Board Member Edgardo Zaragoza, former Narvacan mayor, also told The STAR that he firmly believed Chan’s slay was work-related but not necessarily in relation to the plunder case against deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Zaragoza bared that Chan was zeroing in on questionable transactions by the provincial government in the year 2001 when Chan was killed.

"Year 2000 transactions were already covered by regular yearly audits," he added.

He said that Chan had given the provincial government a trace letter for them to liquidate the cash advances for the year 2001.

But Nestor Seigusmundo, president of the Save Ilocos Sur Alliance (SISA), said former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson has still an unliquidated cash advance amounting to P135 million from the provincial coffers.

SISA is an anti-corruption group that led a rally in front of the provincial capitol in Vigan City denouncing corruption in the province a day before Chan’s murder.

Chan reportedly supplied documents on unliquidated advances to media and SISA.

Seigusmundo, however, said they are not pointing a finger against Singson but they merely want to present issues that may help authorities.

Chan was laid to rest yesterday morning at the Baguio Memorial Park. The Ilocos Sur provincial government sent a delegation headed by Board Member Alexander Bistayong, to attend Chan’s burial.

Gov. Deogracias Sevillano said that he could not go to Baguio due to previous commitments.

On the other hand, Sen. Luisa Ejercito Estrada cancelled all previous appointments to go to Baguio and pay her and her family’s last respects to Chan. She promised the Chan family help from the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, the party of her deposed husband.

She also vowed to push for a Senate investigation of the slaying of Chan. — With Teddy Molina