Task group formed to go after killers of university president in Cagayan de Oro

Ricardo Rotoras (Photo from the USTP Facebook page)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Police here formed Special Investigating Task Group Rotoras to determine the motive and identity of perpetrators, who shot and killed the president of a state-run university here early Saturday morning.

Senior Supt. Robert Roy Bahian, the city police chief, said Ricardo Rotoras, 48, was shot dead outside his home at the Golden Glow North Subdivision in Barangay Carmen here about 1:00 a.m.

Rotoras was the president of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, more commonly referred to here as USTP.

Citing the findings of the Scene of the Crime Operatives, Bahian said Rotoras had several gunshot wounds. His driver rushed him to nearby JR Borja General Hospital, but he died on the way.

A witness told investigators he saw individuals loitering near the Golden Glow North perimeter fence days before the incident.

The same witness claimed to have seen two men walking out of the subdivision after the shooting. A black pick-up truck came to fetch the suspected gunmen, the witness added.

Recovered from the crime scene were empty shells fired from a weapon believed to be a .45-caliber pistol.

Rotoras, who became head of USTP in 2006, was also the president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc).

Elected unopposed for the fourth time, Rotoras was supposed to end his two-year term as Pasuc head in 2019.

His colleagues described Rotoras as a “dedicated public servant” and “workaholic.”

Former USTP student Alyssa Clenuar, in a post on social media, said Rotoras’s death was “a big loss to everyone” in the university and those that he had extended help in the past.

As of Saturday morning, the police said they were still conducting an investigation and follow-up operation.

A member of the Rotoras family said they already had a person of interest in mind but did not elaborate.

Mayor Oscar Moreno had already asked the help of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the speedy resolution of the killing, according to city information officer Maricel Rivera.

Rivera said Moreno was “also in close coordination with the city police.”

Rivera said Moreno described the killing as “very sad and a great loss to the academic community and Mindanao.”