Cops eye tiff between old, new guards in Aguirre case

Was it a clash between the old guards and their replacements?

The police are investigating whether a tiff between the current and former security guards of banker Albert “Bobby” Aguirre led to the shooting at his house in Las Piñas on Saturday in which three of his security personnel were killed.

Las Piñas police chief Senior Supt. Romulo Sapitula said that this would explain why the men who barged inside Aguirre’s sprawling residential compound in BF International Subdivision, Barangay CAA, targeted just the guards on duty—David Manguera; Melvin Padaca, a retired policeman; and PO3 Luisito Macatunao of the Police Security and Protection Group who was assigned to the banker’s secretary—before escaping.

Aguirre, the owner of troubled Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank, was at home at that time although he was not harmed by the gunmen.

“We got wind of information that a group of people formerly employed as part of Aguirre’s security detail, some [of them] former policemen, allegedly had a grudge [against] Padaca,” Sapitula said.

He also noted that there have been reports that the former guards had yet to receive their salaries in full. “This is one of the things we are looking at,” he said.

Despite this development, the police said they were not discounting the possibility that the attack was directed at Aguirre.

“When I talked to him after the incident, he told me that he had suspicions but he declined to elaborate. He just said, ‘We just won the case,’” Sapitula said, noting that Aguirre was referring to the continuing court battle to reopen Banco Filipino which was shut down last year by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas due to liquidity problems.

Sapitula on Monday led a case conference with investigators. Despite this, he admitted that they still had no clue as to what the gunmen’s motive was.

“We looked at many angles but we still cannot identify the motive behind the attack. We still need other facts and further investigation. Hopefully after a day or two, we will have a clearer picture of the incident,” Sapitula said.