2 suspects in Vigan City judge's slay fall

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities are believed to have solved the killing of a judge in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur eight months ago with the arrest of two alleged guns-for-hire during a raid on a cockpit in La Union last Wednesday, a police official said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Ramon Purugganan, La Union police director, said witnesses positively identified Candido Mitrado, 49, and Peter Tagura, 52, as the assassins of Vigan City Judge Reynaldo Lacasandile last Oct. 4.

Purugganan said the two suspects were apprehended for illegal possession of firearms last June 8 at a cockpit in San Gabriel, La Union.

He quoted forensic experts as saying that the caliber .45 pistol seized from Mitrado (along with two magazines with 14 bullets) matched with the firearm used in the Lacasandile killing.

“With that information, we have a strong case against them,” he told The STAR.

In a report to Ilocos regional police director Chief Superintendent Frank Bucayu, Purugganan said they are verifying reports that Tagura’s caliber .45 Colt pistol was used in at least five other killings in the region.

Police records show that Lacasandile was waiting for a ride on his way to work last Oct. 4 when two men repeatedly shot him. He died while being brought to the hospital due to multiple gunshot wounds.

Lacasandile had been traveling for over two hours from his residence in Tagudin town to his office in Vigan City on a daily basis.

Purugganan said the La Union police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group also have a witness who testified that the two arrested suspects had been roaming around Lacasandile’s house days before the killing.

Purugganan said he received information that the two had been hiding in La Union, prompting him to form a special tracker team to arrest them.

“The close coordination of police units, the sharing of vital intelligence and painstaking surveillance resulted in the arrest of the suspects,” he said.