Robbery eyed in slay of DPWH official in Bulacan

BALIWAG, BULACAN — Police are looking at robbery as motive behind the killing of an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) who was found dead inside his car in a bypass road here on Monday midnight.

Baliwag police chief Col. Avelino Protacio Jr. said the P100,000 cash and the mobile phone of Alejandro Centeno, 57, a resident of San Juan in the City of Malolos, were missing.

Police are still trying to establish the identities of the victim’s four male companions who were last seen with him before he was found dead.

Centeno was the head of the Quality Assurance Section of the DPWH Second Engineering District office in Sta. Maria town.

Police found Centeno’s body at the rear seat of his white Toyota Corolla Hi-Lux along the roadside in Barangay Tarcan.

But Protacio said the victim could have been killed somewhere else.

Investigators said Centeno sustained serious head injury.

Police said Centeno was last seen alive inside a motel in Calumpit town on Sunday after he went out for a drinking spree with young male friends.

Based on the closed-circuit television footage, his vehicle was seen entering the motel at 1 p.m. and left two hours later.

But Centeno failed to return home and was reported missing by his relatives. /kga