Cops say woman plotted murder to stop abuses

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna—A woman claiming to be a victim of physical abuse confessed to hiring men to kill her live-in partner of seven years in Los Banos, Laguna, according to police Wednesday.

Police arrested Lala Macawili, 25, hours after her live-in partner, Jose Tobias, 49, a former policeman, was shot repeatedly by motorcycle-riding gunmen past 5 p.m. on Tuesday near where the couple lived in Barangay Bambang.

Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz, Laguna police chief, in a text message said that after the murder, a police asset reported that Macawili earlier offered to pay him P30,000 to kill Tobias but he turned it down.

This prompted police to question Macawili who admitted to plotting her partner’s murder.

Macawili, in a statement to police, said she wanted to end the abuse so she hired killers through a certain Reycardo Arcita, 30.

Police also arrested Arcita who identified one of the gunmen as a certain Joel Buraraw.