DILG wants faster investigation on murder of Universidad de Zamboanga president

MANILA, Philippines—Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo ordered Western Mindanao police officials on Monday to speed up their investigation for the immediate arrest of suspects behind the killing of a university president in Zamboanga City on Sunday.

In a statement, Robredo said he has ordered Chief Superintendent Napoleon Estilles, Region 9 police director, and Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, Zamboanga City police director, to exhaust all available personnel and resources to hunt down the two suspects who allegedly gunned down Dr. Arturo Eustaquio III, president of family-owned Universidad de Zamboanga, adding the police should be able to determine the real motive behind the attack and who was the mastermind.

Reports said 63-year-old Eustaquio had just come out of his house in Maestra Vicenta in Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City around 1:30 p.m. Sunday on board his motorcycle when two gunmen shot him six times using a .45-caliber pistol. The suspects then boarded a motorcycle and fled to an unknown direction.

The victim was rushed to the Zamboanga Arturo Eustaqio College hospital, another family-owned institution, for medical treatment but was later pronounced dead by his attending physicians.

For his part, Estilles has formed a Special Investigation Task Group “Archie” (the victim’s nickname) which would focus their probe on the incident and conduct manhunt operations against Eustaquio’s killers.

Reports said the family of the victim had asked that they be left alone for the meantime while Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat is having a case conference at the Zamboanga City Police Office.

Universidad de Zamboanga is a private university in Zamboanga City founded on October 12, 1948 by the victims’ father, Eustaquio Sr. It was formerly known as Zamboanga Arturo Eustaquio College until it was changed to Universidad de Zamboanga in 2005, the year it was granted university status. The university holds 25 percent of all college enrollments in the Western Mindanao region in its eight campuses.