Isabela town mayor’s slay was ‘likely planned’
MANILA, Philippines—Two men and a woman are now under custody in connection with the killing of of Maconacon, Isabela, Mayor Erlinda Domingo outside a Quezon City inn on Tuesday night.
Christian Pajenado, Michael Domingo and Mary Grace Abduhadi were apprehended in separate operations starting right after the murder up to dawn Wednesday.
Quezon City Police District director Senior Supt. Richard Albano said his men were still determining the motive for the attack on the 51-year-old mayor, who died of a single gunshot to the head.
“This was likely planned. Possibly, it is election-related,” he said on Tuesday night.
Domingo was gunned down at the parking area of the Park Villa Apartelle at the corner of Examiner Street and Quezon Avenue at 7:42 p.m. The mayor had just arrived to check in again at the inn, accompanied by her driver Bernard Plasos, 35.
Plasos was rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center for a gunshot wound in the right thigh, just above the knee.
“They arrived the night before and checked in, then they checked out again in the morning. They came back in the evening to check in again,” Albano told reporters at the crime scene on Tuesday night.
Official business
According to Isabela provincial police director Senior Supt. Franklin Moises Mabanag, the mayor was in Metro Manila to attend to official business.
Mabanag said she was seeking reelection as mayor in the coming May elections. Previously, she served as provincial board member and vice mayor.
Domingo was shot dead right outside her service vehicle, a maroon Mitsubishi Adventure with license plate SJA 893.
Albano said the killers, numbering at least five, reportedly arrived on two motorcycles and shot the lady mayor.
Asked about a possible motive for the killing, Mabanag said the victim had reportedly received politically related threats to her life in the past.
He added that the mayor would inform him of her out-of-town trips.
Helpful official
Domingo’s vice mayor, Jolly Taberner, described the mayor as a helpful official and said he did not know she had any enemies.
“She would sometimes go around in our town without a bodyguard,” he told the Inquirer.
Plasos, her driver, said he could not recall any instance when the victim argued with anyone, say over the phone, ever since he was hired in 2009.
Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, identified the other suspects at large as Marsibal Abduhadi alias “Bagwis,” Ryan Santiago, 32, of Barangay (village) Culiat, and an alias “Khalid.”
In an interview, Plasos said he and his boss had just come from the Hap Chan tea house on West Avenue where they had dinner.
They were in Metro Manila to attend to an official business function at a Mandaluyong City hotel, having arrived on Monday night.
Upon arriving at the apartelle, Plasos parked the vehicle at the left-most parking slot, just in front of the inn, and got out to get his boss’ luggage.
The driver told the Inquirer that he went around the vehicle and opened the right rear door where the mayor was seated.
“I got her black luggage and then she came out. We were both getting more bags from inside the vehicle and our attention was turned toward the vehicle,” Plasos recalled.
At that time, Plasos was positioned on Domingo’s left, as the mayor was partly hidden from view.
As he was busy unloading the luggage, the driver suddenly heard a single gunshot ring out.
The driver then turned to see Domingo already sprawled on the ground.
Black jacket-clad gunman
Plasos then looked at a single black jacket-clad gunman, whom he saw wielding a handgun.
“I decided to run after him. He was already walking near Quezon Avenue when he saw me. He walked back toward me and shot me,” the driver said, estimating the distance between him and the suspect to be around four meters.
Plasos, who also acted as a bodyguard for Domingo, was unarmed at that time as he had no permit to carry his gun.
The wounded driver then scampered back to the apartelle, where he reported the incident to the guard and then went inside a toilet.
Plasos was later brought to the East Avenue Medical Center by responding policemen.
Arrested by construction workers
Pajenada was first to be arrested at a construction site near Times Street where he ran for safety but ended up being arrested by workers there.
Inspectors Elmer Monsalve and Alan de la Cruz of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said Pajenada, 25, confessed to being part of the group out to take down Domingo.
During questioning, the suspect claimed there were five of them in the group, and that a certain “Bagwis” was the one who told them of the job to kill the mayor. “But he doesn’t know who gave the order. Only Bagwis is the one telling them,” Monsalve said.
Recovered from his possession was a .45- cal. pistol with two loaded magazines.
Pajenada’s arrest led to the capture of Domingo, 38, who reportedly similarly claimed that he did not personally know the one who ordered the hit on the mayor.
“What they (the two suspects) are claiming is that they were only told of the job recently,” said De la Cruz.
Motorcycle recovered
Police recovered from Domingo a Honda XRM motorcycle with license plate OF 3055, which is believed to be the getaway vehicle of “Bagwis.”
Abduhadi, 25, is reportedly the wife of Marsibal Abduhadi alias “Bagwis.” She was taken into custody after follow-up operations in Salaam Compound in Barangay Culiat.
During questioning, the woman claimed to know the two arrested suspects as friends of her husband’s.
According to the woman, her husband has not come home for a while but police seized from her a lady’s bag containing a Beretta .22-cal. pistol, a .45-cal. pistol and two loaded magazines, a box with 50 bullets for 9 mm, and a sachet of marijuana.
Case investigator PO2 Anthony Tejerero said he had reviewed the closed-circuit camera footage of the apartelle, which showed only a wounded Plasos running for safety inside the apartelle.
Meanwhile, PO2 Julius Cesar Balbuena said they will also check the camera footage of a nearby Citibank branch and other establishments to see if the suspects were in the area prior to the shooting.
Police are still preparing murder and illegal possession of firearms charges against the arrested suspects, who were expected to undergo inquest proceedings later Wednesday.
