Suspected Triggerman in Samar mayor’s slay arrested

TACLOBAN CITY – The suspected triggerman in the Jan. 25 killing of the mayor of Daram, Samar finally fell into the hands of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) the other day.

NBI deputy director for regional operations Reynaldo Esmeralda and Eastern Visayas director Antonio Pagatpat presented suspect Arthur Donaire in a press conference here yesterday.

Donaire, alias Arthur Ponay, was tagged as the one who gunned down Daram Mayor Benito Astorga with a caliber .45 automatic during a fiesta dance in Barangay Birawan, Daram town before dawn of Jan. 25.

The NBI revealed that Donaire is a fourth degree-cousin of Bartolome Figueroa, who now sits as Daram mayor.

Donaire, however, denied having a hand in the gunslaying, saying he was just a casual employee in Figueroa’s office and that he was incapable of doing such a thing.

"I am innocent… and had nothing to do with this crime... This is so shocking and I am appealing to the NBI authorities to go deeper in their investigation to really prove that I am innocent," he said in the Waray dialect.

But Pagatpat said witnesses positively identified Donaire as the one of five suspects behind Astorga’s killing.

Murder charges have been filed against Donaire with the provincial prosecutor’s office.

Pagatpat and Esmeralda, however, said NBI investigators would continue their investigation to unmask the mastermind.

Earlier, the Arnulfo Ortiz Command of the New People’s Army operating in Samar owned up to the killing, but the authorities doubted this.

"This is the first political killing in 2007 which occurred in the region and which was immediately solved by the NBI," Esmeralda said.

When reached for comment, Figueroa admitted that Donaire is his cousin, but denied that the latter was involved in the killing.

"I am firm with my statement that this is a form of political harassment... and (the charges were) fabricated," he said, adding that he is willing to cooperate in the investigation. – With Evelyn Macairan