Gunman in BIR official’s slay tells police he received P20,000 for the job

MANILA, Philippines – The alleged gunman in the murder of a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official has said that he was paid P20,000 for the job, a police officer told the Inquirer yesterday.

Armando Cariño, who was arrested by police operatives on Good Friday, made the admission during an interrogation, Chief Inspector Bong Daskeo, field officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Rizal province, said.

“[The payment] was P20,000, according to him. But I don’t believe him; I think he received more than that,” Daskeo added.

Cariño, however, claimed that he did not know who ordered the killing of Marcelino Yap, the revenue officer of District No. 45 which covers the so-called SMART area, including San Mateo, Marikina, Antipolo City and Teresa in Rizal Province.

According to him, he only tagged along with Tony, the other man linked to the killing, who he identified as Antonio Angel, 40, a resident of Tondo, Manila.

“We are still verifying if there is really such a name. We want to make sure we are not following fall guys,” Daskeo said.

Cariño and Tony are the primary suspects in Yap’s death.

The victim was on his way to his office in Antipolo City on February 17 when he was shot and killed by two men on a motorcycle.

A check of the motorcycle’s license plates led the police to Andy, Cariño’s nephew, who then tagged his uncle and Tony.

Daskeo said Cariño told them that the planning for Yap’s killing took only a few days.