Police probe slaying of prison official

MANILA, Philippines—The Muntinlupa City police have started looking for clues into the killing of a ranking Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) official in Laguna province on Friday night as investigators tried to determine who was behind the attack.

In a phone interview, Superintendent Eleazar Matta, officer in charge of the city police, said he had tasked a group of policemen to find out if BuCor Assistant Director Rodrigo Mercado had received any death threats before he was ambushed while on his way home on Friday night.

Matta declined to specify if the attack on Mercado had anything to do with him being a top-level official of the bureau, which oversees the administration of penal facilities around the country like the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

He said all questions regarding the killing of Mercado should be referred to the San Pedro police in Laguna as they were in charge of investigating the ambush.

“If they request for assistance [in the investigation], we will be ready,” Matta said over the phone.

Mercado was on his way home when an undetermined number of assailants on board motorcycles fired at his vehicle as it was traveling on the national road in San Pedro, Laguna. He died as he was being taken to a hospital.

There were earlier theories that his killing was related to the discovery in April by prison authorities of the rampant illegal drug trade inside the maximum security facility at the New Bilibid Prisons. The discovery led to tighter security within the facility.