Ex-vice gov’s killers identified

Hired gunmen were behind the killing of former Abra Vice Gov. Rolando Somera in Marikina City earlier this month, a police official said on Monday.

Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, Eastern Police District director, said that investigators had already identified the suspects although their names were not disclosed to avoid preempting follow-up operations.

The 62-year-old Somera, a resident of Cainta, Rizal province, was shot dead by two masked men who waited for him outside the San Roque cockpit arena in Marikina City on June 10.

His two aides, identified as Reynaldo de Luna and Wilfredo Apalisoc, were wounded in the attack after they were hit by stray bullets.

The suspect and his cohort went to the area in a green vehicle, based on the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera.

Task Force Somera, which was formed to look into the case, released on Monday a copy of the composite sketch of the suspects, Sapitula said.

Somera’s daughter, Josefina Jaja Disono, said that before he was killed, her father had just been endorsed by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to be a director of the National Tobacco Administration.