MANILA, Philippines — The killing of a Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) official in Muntinlupa City could be due to personal or work-related issues.
The 53-year-old Ruperto Traya Jr. was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men at 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday.
His wife who was with him at that time said she did not know of anyone who had a grudge against her husband. There were no threats to his life either, she added.
“But definitely it was well-planned. They wanted him dead,” said Police Maj. Allan Rainier Cabral, Muntinlupa police investigation chief.
As for rumors that Traya’s death might be related to the botched release of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez from New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Cabral said they “would look into it.” But he admitted their probe would only move forward after getting information from BuCor officials.
Unavailable for comment
The Inquirer tried to get a comment but was told that all BuCor officials concerned were at a command conference in Iwahig prison and penal farm in Palawan province.
Traya was a non-uniformed personnel with a rank of chief administrative officer 3 assigned at the BuCor’s Inmate’s Document Processing Division.
BuCor spokesperson Sonny del Rosario earlier said the division was in charge of collating and processing all paperwork regarding the recomputation of the credits of around 11,000 convicts’ good conduct time allowance under the retroactive application of Republic Act No. 10592.
Reports last week that Sanchez was among the thousands of NBP inmates eligible for early release were met with public anger.
Sanchez was sentenced in 1995 for seven counts of reclusion perpetua for the rape and killing of Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her boyfriend Allan Gomez.