The Abra Police Provincial Office is looking for the mastermind in the Sept. 28 killing of a teacher in Bangued, Abra allegedly due to land dispute.
Abra PPO Director Col. Maly Cula said investigators are now looking for Punong Barangay Armando Wilson of Dumagas, Boliney who was tagged by one of the suspects as the mastermind in the killing of 38-year-old high school teacher Rudy Edward Sayen Jr.
The victim, a native of Boliney, was a teacher at Suyo National High School in Pidigan.
Abra police has in custody the four suspects who were earlier arrested in relation to the killing of Sayen.
The suspects are Sonny Boy Tullas, the driver of the gunman; Aldrin Alagao, the lookout; Abelardo Talape, the middleman; and Romel Paa, the gunman.
All of the suspects, who admitted to police investigators of having received P100,000 for the killing of Sayen, are from Tayum.
Sayen, a transgender female known as Estee, was gunned down around 8 a.m. in Bangued while on her way to Suyo NHS on board a motorcycle.
She was brought to the Abra Provincial Hospital but died while being treated.
With the help of CCTV surveillance footage and witnesses, police tracked down Tullas in Patucannay, Tayum at 10 a.m. that day.
By 5 p.m. on the same date, personnel of the Sallapadan Municipal Police Station spotted and flagged down a motorcycle that fits the description of the motorcycle used by the suspects at the checkpoint. The motorcycle is being driven by Talape.
On the morning of Sept. 29, Alagao surrendered to the Bangued MPS through the intercession of Punong Barangay Ilarde Jacquias of Barangay Cabaroan, Tayum.
At 5 p.m. the same day, police arrested Paa in Cabaroan.
Cula said based on the testimonies of the suspects, the motive of the killing was due to a land dispute within small-scale mining claims and personal grudge between the victim and the alleged mastermind, who is reportedly the husband of the cousin of the victim.
The suspects were all charged with murder. – Ofelia C. Empian
April 24, 2024
