Mendoza rules out NPA hand in judge’s murder

Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Men—doza ruled out yesterday the involvement of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Wednesday’s ambush-slaying of an Ilocos Norte Regional Trial Court judge.

Mendoza said investigation into the murder of RTC Judge Ariston Rubio pointed to other probable perpetrators of the crime.

He, however, refused to elaborate, saying it may jeopardize the ongoing probe.

The Ilocos Norte police though are not still discounting the NPA’s possible hand in the killing. Some sectors in the province, however, view the communist group’s involvement as "unlikely."

Nevertheless, the police are looking into two other angles in Rubio’s slaying.

Superintendent Federico Domingo, assistant provincial police director, said a public official, whom he refused to name, has figured in one of these possible angles.

The official, Domingo said, allegedly requested Rubio to desist from issuing a search warrant the judge was about to issue against a resident of Badoc town.

Rubio did not heed the official’s plea and proceeded to issue the search warrant which reportedly resulted in the confiscation of a high-powered firearm from the compound of the Badoc resident.

Police are also looking into big cases which Rubio was handling, including the electoral protest which defeated candidate Bobby Clemente filed against Paoay Mayor Nenuca Evangelista.

The Commission on Elections tagged Paoay town as a hot spot during the recent elections. Rightly so, a spate of violent incidents occurred there during the campaign period, including an ambush in Barangay Callaguip where a number of Evangelista’s followers and a member of the Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion were killed.

Rubio, according to an unconfirmed report, was about to issue his decision on the electoral case.