Probers eye drugs in murder of BuCor officer

MANILA, Philippines — Investigators are eyeing the possible link of the slain Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer to illegal drugs as a strong motive behind his death, police officials said Friday.

“Sa ngayon, ang pinakamalakas na possible motive ay ‘yung sa drugs (As of now, the strongest possible motive is his alleged link to drugs),” said Col. Gerardo Umayao, Muntinlupa City Police chief,  in a text message forwarded to INQUIRER.net by Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

“May ganoong information [that he is linked to drugs] pero for validation pa rin (There is such a piece of information but it’s still up for validation),” Eleazar said in a separate text message.

Ruperto Traya, 53, had just got off from his motorcycle and was about to open the gate of his rented parking lot in Barangay Poblacion when a still unidentified gunman on board a motorcycle shot him to death last Tuesday, August 27.

Traya was a non-uniformed personnel of BuCor and had the rank of Chief Administrative Officer 3.

READ: BuCor officer shot dead in Muntinlupa

According to Umayao, the alleged drug link of the victim appears to be a stronger angle behind his death since his work at BuCor’s Inmate’s Document Processing Division covers “very general” tasks.

The said division is in charge of collating and processing all paperwork concerning the recomputation of credits for the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) of around 11,000 convicts under Republic Act No. 10592.

Rumors earlier surfaced that Traya’s death might be related to the aborted release of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

READ: Link between BuCor man and Sanchez probed

But according to Umayao, Traya’s work at BuCor is not purely focused on the GCTA. He said ground investigators are working on obtaining more information from the division chief regarding the specific job of the victim before they can link the murder to the issue on GCTA.

READ: Muntinlupa cops working with BuCor in probe of BuCor exec’s murder

/kga