Bank manager nabbed for twin slays

KORONADAL CITY — Police have arrested the manager of a rural bank in South Cotabato after he was positively identified by the star witness — a nine-year-old girl — as responsible for the gruesome killing of the bank’s female cashier and her mother.

Senior Superintendent Romeo Rufino, South Cotabato police director, said Gerry Inocencio, 55, manager of Peninsula Rural Bank Inc. (PenBank) in nearby Tupi town in South Cotabato, was arrested last Monday on the strength of a warrant issued by Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Judge Agustin Sardido for double murder.

Rufino said Inocencio, now behind bars at the Koronadal City jail, was implicated in the deaths of PenBank cashier Marites Tanquirino, 29, and her 56-year-old mother, Violeta Salac.

Tanquirino, who was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the PenBank branch at the time of her death, had been missing since Sunday. She was found dead last Wednesday underneath a bridge in far-flung Barangay Concepcion here.

Police said Tanquirino assumed as OIC when officials of PenBank, owned by fishing tycoon Rodrigo Rivera Sr. of General Santos City, ordered an investigation into Inocencio’s alleged involvement in an anomaly.

The state witness, Cherry Sabado, Tanquirino’s niece, told probers that Inocencio and an unidentified companion, who were aboard a motorcycle, went to the victims’ house at Agriville Subdivision here last Saturday.

Sabado quoted Tanquirino as saying when the latter opened the door, "Ninong, bakit andito kayo." Inocencio was one of Tanquirino’s godfathers when she married an overseas worker.

The girl said she, Tanquirino’s one-year-old son, Mark, and mother Violeta were inside the house then. Minutes later, she said Inocencio and his companion left along with Tanquirino.

After several hours, Sabado said Inocencio and his friend returned. Once inside the house, they took turns in hurting Tanquirino’s mother who was found dead with two stab wounds inside the comfort room the following morning. The old woman was also strangled with a wire.

Sabado said she and Tanquirino’s son hid inside a closet when the old woman was killed.