School official killed over hike in fees?

The executive vice president of Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (Earist) in  Sta. Mesa, Manila, and several other school officials had received death threats before the former was shot and killed on Friday.

In an interview with the Inquirer, case investigator Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan of the Manila Police District said that aside from Noel Cabrera, the school president, vice president for academic affairs and legal officer had reported receiving death threats.

Cabrera had just left the school and was driving home on Friday evening when two men on a motorcycle shot him with a caliber .45 firearm.

He sustained four gunshot wounds while a colleague who had hitched a ride in his car, Rolando Peraldo, survived the attack unscathed.

Witnesses did not see the gunmen’s faces or the license plate of the motorcycle. Both of the motorcycle riders were wearing helmets.

Despite reports that the death threats started after the school approved new miscellaneous fees for the coming school year, the police have yet to determine where the threats came from and who sent them.

“We’re looking at anyone who may have a quarrel with them,” Layugan clarified to the Inquirer.

He said that they had set a meeting with the other officials to get more information from them.

Based on an initial report, Cabrera was being eyed as the next president of the college, according to the police.