Sen. Ralph Recto (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto demanded justice on Thursday for the killing of businessman Dominic Sytin.
“He was a good friend to me, as he was to many others, from all walks of life, in all parts of the country. He was a UP double business major who was a source of brilliant ideas,” Recto said in a statement.
“His death must be given justice, and his works honored,” he said.
Sytin was shot dead outside a hotel in Subic Wednesday night by still unidentified assailants.
He was the founder and chief executive officer of United Auctioneers Inc., an industrial auction company based in Subic and a part owner of the ACEA Subic Bay resort.
Recto described the victim as a “silent worker for Philippine progress.”
“His niche was not in fancy cars that ferry people from point A to B, but in vehicles which move the economy forward,” he said.
“He made heavy equipment affordable to the small businessman, the countryside trader, to the promdi farmer, and to local governments.”
The senator also described Sytin as the “classic story of guts and grit.”
“He inherited neither great wealth nor a famous name. Far from being discouraged, he harnessed these handicaps to fuel his dream,” he said.
“And with a good head on his shoulders, which is matched by a good heart, he and his brothers were able to grow their business portfolio, adding a P2 billion car assembly plant in Clark, resorts, and one of the country’s biggest chemical companies.”
“I am confident that his dreams will not die with him,” Recto further said.
Senators Richard Gordon and JV Ejercito also condemned the killing of Sytin.
“I condemn, in the strongest sense of the word, the killing of businessman Dominic Sytin outside the Lighthouse Hotel inside the Subic Freeport Zone last night,” Gordon said.
“This vile deed, committed thru treachery, should not be countenanced. Hence, I am urging the authorities to resolve this case with dispatch and immediately bring to justice the perpetrators,” he added.
Ejercito also took to Twitter to condemn the businessman’s assassination, calling it “deplorable.”
“This cowardly act of violence against a good man is really deplorable,” he said.
Ejercito said he personally knows Sytin as a “very good and decent man.”
“He has no known enemies,” Ejercito said. /jpv
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