Cops tracking down PUP exec’s killers

An official of the Manila Police District (MPD) on Monday said that investigators were following up several leads on the identities of the two men who ambushed a ranking official of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) last week.

Senior Inspector Joselito de Ocampo, MPD homicide section chief, told the Inquirer that they were now tracking down the killers of Augustus Cezar, PUP vice president and executive director for the state university’s campuses, nationwide.

“We cannot get to the mastermind unless we get them,” Ocampo said.

On Wednesday night, Cezar was driving his Toyota Lite Ace on his way home when a man wearing a motorcycle helmet shot him twice in the head after the vehicle stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard and Pureza Street in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The gunman then escaped on a motorcycle driven by another man who was also wearing a helmet.

A source who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media said that they were able to get descriptions of the two men from witnesses who saw them lurking near the main gate of the PUP Sta. Mesa campus hours before the killing.

According to the witnesses, the two men were not wearing motorcycle helmets then. However, they donned their helmets and ran to their motorcycle when they spotted Cezar’s van leaving the campus.

Meanwhile, MPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit head Senior Superintendent Jimmy Tiu told the Inquirer that on Saturday, Cezar’s widow asked for police protection because their neighbors saw several suspicious-looking men hanging out near the family’s home in Makati City.

According to the neighbors, the men pointed several times at the victim’s house.

“I have coordinated with the local police to provide [the family] security,” Tiu said.

Cezar’s body was brought back on Sunday morning to his hometown in Lezo, about 10 kilometers away from Kalibo town in Aklan, where he will be buried.

“We condemn his murder and we want justice especially for his family,” Lezo Mayor Victor Fernandez told the Inquirer in an interview Monday.

Fernandez, the victim’s uncle, said the killing shocked him, their other relatives and other town mates.

“He was known here as a good-natured and helpful man, a low-key person despite the high position he held at the university,” he added.

PUP officer in charge Estelita de la Rosa told the Inquirer that she and Cezar had big plans for the school and they were in the middle of implementing reforms when he was killed.—With a report from Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas