But Director General Arturo Lomibao, Philippine National Police chief, said he had ordered the reassignment of Superintendent Willie Dangane even before the killing after he learned that he had been occupying the post for four years even if he was not a full police colonel (senior superintendent).
Esperat’s husband, George, was quoted as saying that Dangane was a "mortal enemy" of his wife, a hard-hitting columnist for the local weekly paper Midland Review.
Esperat, 45, was shot in the head inside her home in Tacurong City in front of her 10-year-old son. — Cecille Suerte Felipe