Rewards up in slays of NE cop, Batangas trader

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali on Tuesday  offered a P300,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of gunman in last Sunday’s murder of a local policeman here.

In Batangas, Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili has offered P2 million bounty for anyone who could give information for the capture of the perpetrators behind the rob-slay of Mariano Lirio III, a shopping mart owner, in Sto. Tomas town last Sept. 27.

Umali said the Philippine National Police should intensify their intelligence gathering against the killer of Police Officer 1 Mario Tabigne.

“The PNP should leave no stones unturned in bringing before the bars of justice the perpetrators in the dastardly killing of PO1 Tabigne,” he said.

Tabigne, 29, of the Aliaga police station, was gunned down by a lone gunman on Sunday inside the Yuppies Dem Bar in  Barangay Hermogenes, Concepcion town.

Superintendent Pedro Soliba, city police chief, said they have yet to identify the suspect, but the Provincial Public Safety Company said it has already a description of the gunman based on testimonies of eyewitnesses. The suspect was described as between 25 to 30 years old.

Superintendent Ricardo Villanueva, PPSC commander, said the getaway vehicle used in the killing was registered in the name of one Jaime Abalos of Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.

Halili said the cash reward was completed through donations from relatives, friends, neighbors, fellow businessmen and the family of Lirio.

The mayor said the victim was a family friend and a resident of the Tanauan City before he and his family transferred to  Sto. Tomas. – Manny Galvez, Ed Amoroso