Pizarro’s friends probed over slay

MANILA, Philippines — Two close friends of retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro, including a godfather of one of his sons, could be behind the gruesome killing of the former magistrate, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday said.

NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin said Pizarro’s friends and another man were among the four “persons of interest” they had invited to shed light on the disappearance and death of the former magistrate, whose mutilated body was found in Tarlac province a week after he was reported missing on Oct. 23.

“One of them is close to the family (of Pizarro). He was a godfather to his son. The other one is a woman, who is also close to the former justice,” Lavin said. He said the fourth person of interest, an elderly man who supposedly owed Pizarro some P200,000 in gambling debt, had already gone to the NBI thrice but provided “conflicting” statements.

He said the man was the same person who boarded the retired magistrate’s car in front of a casino in Clark Freeport, Pampanga, on the day he was last seen alive.

“Our agents have already (contacted) them. But I’m not (sure) if they already replied to our invitation,” Lavin said.

“They could be witnesses or suspects in the course of the investigation,” he added.

Asked for a possible motive in the killing, Lavin said: “We are looking at all possible angles. It may be related to his previous work as justice. It could also be personal, or a mix of both.”

“We are not discounting the possibility that two or three, or all of the persons of interest may have conspired to kill the justice,” Lavin added.

NBI Director Eric Distor said the autopsy done on Pizarro’s cadaver showed that he was shot in the back of his head, with the bullet exiting the upper left portion of his head.

Distor earlier said that the victim’s entire right hand and the fingers on his left hand were cut off when the body was recovered in Capas town on Oct. 30.

Lavin said they could not tell if Pizarro was tortured or beaten up before he was killed.

“We have not been able to establish if he was shot first or if his hands were chopped off first because the cadaver was already (decomposing) when it was recovered,” he said.

According to the NBI spokesperson, the former magistrate had become close to the man who owed him money after they met in a casino last August. INQ