MANILA, Philippines —The dash cam video obtained from the vehicle of slain radio broadcaster Percival Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid, offers hope of identifying who committed the crime, police said Thursday.
Police Colonel Restituto Arcangel, commander and spokesman of the special investigation task force for the case, said that the footage had captured “suspicious” motorcycle-riding men near Lapid’s car before he was gunned down.
Gunshots were likewise heard in the video before the tandem riders — believed to be his assailants — fled the scene.
“Noong na-compare namin doon sa nakuhanan ng camera sa likod ng sasakyan niya (Lapid) before siya ay mabaril, pumaparehas doon sa suot noong nagda-drive ng motor. Iyon iyong point of reference namin doon sa [nakuha] namin na CCTV footages na na-locate along doon sa route na iyon,” Arcangel told INQUIRER.net over the phone.
(When we compared the dash cam video from Lapid’s car before he was shot, to the CCTV footage the police had obtained along the route he took, the clothing of the one driving the motorcycle matched.)
PHOTO: Percy Lapid Fire facebook page
However, he said that they have yet to identify the gunmen based on the pool of videos.
“Wala pa tayong identification noong suspek, maliban sa general description ng features, estimate ng height at build pero as to the identity, wala pa po tayo doon,” Arcangel said.
(We have not identified the shooters besides the general description of their features and an estimate of their height and build. But as to the identity, we have not reached that point yet.)
According to him, the dash cam footage has since been submitted to the Anti-Cybercrime Unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for forensic examination.
The PNP has vowed to bring justice for Lapid, a fierce critic of the Duterte and Marcos administrations, after he was shot dead at the gate of a Las Piñas City village on Monday night.
READ: PNP vows to bring justice for slain Percy Lapid; says probe underway
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has put up a P500,000 reward to anyone who could provide “valuable information” on Lapid’s killing.
READ: Abalos offers P500,000 reward for leads in Percy Lapid killing
Meanwhile, businessman and lawyer Alex Lopez similarly pledged a reward worth P1 million to anyone who can give crucial leads that will bring authorities closer to identifying the perpetrators behind the radioman’s murder.
According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Lapid is the second journalist to have been killed under the Marcos administration. The first is radio broadcaster Rey Blanco, who has stabbed to death in Negros Oriental last September.