Cop tagged as gunman in slay of Negros Occidental board member

BACOLOD CITY- A policeman has been tagged as the alleged gunman in last month’s killing of Negros Occidental Board Member Renato Malabor and his bodyguard in Isabela town, Negros Occidental.

Two counts of murder were filed against PO1 Robert Chloe Rito and six others in the provincial prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.

The complaint stemmed from accounts of witnesses who identified Rito as the gunman, said Supt. Peter Naboye, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director for Western Visayas and member of the Special Investigation Task Group Malabor.

The six others served as lookouts during the killing of Malabor, 55 and bodyguard Leody Jomilla, 52, said Rito.

They were identified as Jacklyn Villaquer, Felipe Juntarchiego, and alias Bongbong, Taning, Nonoy and Jason, Naboye said.

The police on Tuesday night submitted the documentary evidence to the Negros Occidental Prosecutor’s Office, but the double murder charges were officially filed on Wednesday afternoon, Senior Supt. Manuel Nacion, Negros Occidental Police provincial director, said.

Naboye said that based on the investigation of the SITG, Rito and his companions appear to be part of a gun-for-hire group.

He also pointed out that some of the accused are engaged in the illegal drug trade and gunrunning.

Naboye said the two suspects in police custody are Villaquer and Juntarchiego, who were recently arrested for separate crimes in

Himamaylan City and were linked to the Malabor slay by witnesses.

Villaquer was arrested in Himamaylan on July 7 for illegal possession of firearms, Naboye said.

Juntarchiego was arrested by virtue of a search warrant on July 25 for possession of shabu, an M-16 assault rifle and .38 caliber revolver in Aguisan, Himamaylan, police records show.

Naboye said Villaguer provided the police with information that corroborated statements of police witnesses.