MANILA, Philippines — Police have implicated seven individuals, including a former official of the National Center for Mental Health, in the murder of NCMH director Roland Cortez and his driver in Quezon City last July.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) yesterday identified the alleged mastermind as former NCMH administrative support chief Clarita Avila, who was transferred to another treatment facility in Las Piñas City last April after she spoke about the conditions of COVID-19 patients at the NCMH.
The other suspects are NCMH employee and alleged gunman Harly Pagarigan; George Serrano, also a worker at the mental institution; Sonny Sandicho; Edison Riego; Ma. Christina dela Cruz and Albert Eugenio.
QCPD director Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo said two counts of murder were filed against Avila and the other suspects before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office last Monday.
“With the filing of the case against the suspects, this case is considered solved,” Montejo said in a statement.
Eugenio, ranked seventh in the list of most wanted persons of the Eastern Police District, was arrested because of a warrant of arrest for a separate murder case while the other suspects remain at large.
Cortez, 61, was on his way to work in Mandaluyong City when he and his driver Ernesto dela Cruz, 46, were fired upon by assailants on a motorcycle in Barangay Culiat last July 27.
Maj. Elmer Monsalve, who heads the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the motive stemmed from the alleged anomalies Cortez exposed in the utilization of funds for the NCMH patients’ food, shelter, clothing and medication.
Last month, Cortez filed a complaint of graft and malversation against Avila before the Office of the Ombudsman based on the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Monsalve said Eugenio’s arrest and the testimony of witnesses at the scene led them to name Avila as the alleged brains behind Cortez’s murder.
He said Eugenio was the one who led them to the getaway vehicle and in identifying Pagarigan as the gunman.
According to Monsalve, witnesses told investigators that Avila, Pagarigan, Serrano and Sandicho discussed their plan to kill Cortez.