2 ‘assailants’ of Laguna newsman hunted

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — The regional police command has launched a massive manhunt for two brothers who were positively identified by at least six witnesses as the assailants of Laguna journalist Robert "Roby" Ramos.

Chief Superintendent Jesus Versoza, Region 4 police director, has ordered the immediate arrest of siblings Buboy and Jalal Saidali tagged in the Nov. 20 gunslaying of Ramos, a columnist of the weekly newspaper Katapat.

Versoza said the Saidali brothers, both engaged in the selling of pirated VCDs and DVDs, have been charged with murder in the Laguna prosecutor’s office.

"We are confident that we can solve this case as soon as possible," Versoza said.

"The filing of the case is just part of the process. Until a warrant of arrest has been issued and eventually the arrest of the suspects, that’s the time we can only consider the case solved," he added.

Ramos was waiting for a ride home when two motorcycle-riding men shot him at close range in front of Pinky’s Market in Barangay Banlic in Cabuyao, Laguna at about 7:30 p.m. last Nov. 20.

According to Versoza, the Saidali brothers are well known in the market area, which explains why several people corroborated the statements of the witnesses.

Superintendent Gil Blando Lebin, Region 4 officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said Ramos and a colleague had a verbal tussle, for still unknown reasons, with vendors of pirated VCDs at Pinky’s Market last Nov. 15.

The following day, operatives of the Optical Media Board (OMB) reportedly raided the market and confiscated some P4 million worth of pirated VCDs and DVDs.

Lebin said Ramos could have possibly earned the ire of the vendors who suspected that he was the one who tipped off the OMB about their illegal trade.

Lebin cited reports that the Saidali brothers immediately fled to Mindanao after the killing.

"We have formed four tracking teams to hunt the Saidali brothers," he said.

Versoza did not discount the possibility that other people might have been involved in the killing.

"We are still gathering information on that angle and we will continue until no stone is left unturned," he said. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe and Ed Amoroso