Witnesses in PUP official’s slay ‘scared’

More than a month after the killing of an official of the state-run Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the efforts of the police task group to go after the suspected mastermind are being hampered by witnesses too frightened to speak out.

Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section head Chief Inspector Joey De Ocampo said that they have more than five witnesses who had provided them with information that could lead to the identification of the suspected mastermind in the October 12 killing of PUP vice president Augustus Cezar.

“They talk to us and tell us what they know about who hired the killers but when we ask them to execute an affidavit, they hold back and tell us that they still have to think about it. Some even hide from us,” De Ocampo told the Inquirer.

He added that one of the witnesses had even identified the alleged middleman, considered the link between the mastermind and the hired guns, in the contract to kill Cezar. “The witness’ testimony is vital for us to hold the mastermind culpable for the killing,” De Ocampo said.

He explained that even if the information in the affidavit would serve only as circumstantial evidence against the alleged mastermind, it would be enough to establish probable cause if backed up by other statements.

Asked why the witnesses have refused to tag the mastermind in a sworn statement, De Ocampo said, “They are probably afraid.”

“That is our predicament now at the task group,” he added, referring to Task Group “August,” which was specifically activated to investigate Cezar’s killing.

“It is easy to solve crimes if we go by the proper investigative procedure, which would include the cooperation of witnesses and other persons who may know something. But with nobody willing to testify, a case will remain unsolved,” De Ocampo told the Inquirer.

However, he assured the public that he and his operatives at the MPD homicide section have not let up in their pursuit of the hired guns.

Cezar was gunned down on October 12 by one of two motorcycle-riding men as he was driving his van home. The shooting occurred after the victim stopped at a red traffic light at the corner of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard and Pureza Street in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The triggerman in Cezar’s slay is believed to be the same man responsible for the October 5 killing of 52-year-old Mila Dumaguit, the social welfare department’s logistics and finance management services chief at Makati City Hall. Witnesses in the Dumaguit case recognized the shooter after the Manila police released a computer-generated image of the gunman in the PUP official’s killing.