Ex-Calumpit Mayor’s slay: 2 suspects killed; Obet cries cover-up

CALUMPIT, Bulacan – Former Bulacan governor Roberto Pagdanganan called on Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon to revamp the Bulacan police and relieve key officers from their posts due to what he alleged to be a cover-up on his younger brother’s killing.

This, after the Bocaue police killed on Tuesday night two men allegedly responsible for the killing of former Calumpit mayor Ramon Pagdanganan while attending a fiesta celebration last Sunday night.

“I don’t believe that the suspects they killed in a shootout are the ones who killed my brother,” the older Pagdanga­nan told The STAR.

He was referring to Jerry Velasco and a certain Jocel who were killed in a supposed shootout with the police in Barangay Batia, Bocaue town.

Police claimed that witnesses Myrna Alfonso and Marcelo Datuin positively identified the slain suspects as the ones who gunned down the former mayor.

Police said Alfonso and Datuin were the ones who provided descriptions of the killers that served as basis for the artist sketches.

However, the two expressed surprise when police released the sketches, saying they merely described the killers’ collar, baseball cap and motorcycle.

Former governor Pagda­nganan accused the provincial and Calumpit police of being involved in a cover-up.

“First, they speculated na NPA ang pumatay sa kapatid ko, then may pinalutang na love triangle daw ang motibo, tapos ngayon ay mga robbery suspects ang sinasabi nilang killers,” he said.

Pagdanganan said a female police officer with the rank of chief inspector and a barangay chairman in Doña Remedios Trinidad town, who was charged for the murder of Dr. Norman Josue on May 14, 2006, could have had a hand in his brother’s killing.

Josue is the brother-in-law and one of the biggest campaign contributors of incumbent Calumpit Mayor James de Jesus.

The STAR tried to contact Senior Superintendent Allen Bantolo, acting Bulacan police director, for his comment on Pagdanganan’s allegation of a cover-up, but failed. – With Ric Sapnu and Cecille Suerte Felipe