Obet dares Bulacan police as slain brod is laid to rest

By George Trillo

CALUMPIT, Bulacan – Former Bula­can governor Roberto “Obet” Pagda­nganan challenged provincial police officials to quit their posts if they cannot properly investigate the May 4 killing of his younger brother Ramon.

Ramon, who was gunned down while attending a fiesta celebration, was laid to rest at the Calumpit Memorial Park last week. He once served as mayor of this town.
Pagdanganan said his brother’s killing is just one of many unsolved cases in the province, and he took the police to task for this “widespread criminality.”

He said policemen were involved in what he alleged a conspiracy to cover up his brother’s slay, scoring them for failing to act on his suspicion that a police major and a barangay chairman from Doña Remedios Trinidad town could be involved in the killing.

“None of them asked me for more details on the lead I mentioned. Instead they keep on releasing information on an unverified love triangle as motive in the murder of my brother,” he told newsmen after the burial.

Probers reportedly secured a sworn statement from a woman who was with Ramon when he was killed.

She claimed that Ramon, who she said was courting her, had a run-in with another suitor of hers, a businessman.

Earlier, police said two robbery suspects slain in a police shootout could be behind Ramon’s slay, although empty shells and slugs found in both incidents were still being matched.

This, as Task Force Pagdanganan widened its investigation as the Bulacan police included the names of a female police officer and a village chairman as possible suspects, however, a lawyer representing them denied the possibility of their involvement in the murder of Pagdanganan.

As this developed, Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza, in a press statement released Monday, assured the former governor of his full support in the quest for justice, but noted “we should allow the law to take its normal course and authorities to finish investigation on the killing of ex-mayor Pagdanganan.”

He added, the authorities must be given enough time to solve the crime and let those responsible be meted the corresponding punishment.

Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo, acting Bulacan provincial police director said he had already forwarded the names of the police major and the village chairman to the Task Force investigating the May 4 murder.

The police major is said to be the chief of police of Angat town who was previously assigned in San Ildefonso town, while the other possible suspect is the chairman of a barangay in the mountain town of Doña Remedios Trinidad.

The village chair is a former police officer implicated in the murder of Dr. Norman Josue in 2006, but came out last year and accused ex-mayor Pagdanganan of masterminding the killing.

Bantolo said the inclusion of the two in the number of leads being investigated by Task Force Pagdanganan does not necessarily mean they are guilty. “The Task Force is considering to investigate them,” he said noting that their investigation on other angles of the case continues and remains inconclusive.

Earlier, former “Obet” Pagdanganan repeatedly said there is a possibility that the police officer and the barangay chairman are involved, noting his late brother felt his life was at stake as early as April when a Bulacan judge offered the police officer to bring back the barangay chairman to the Bulacan Provincial Jail.

As this developed, lawyer Sergio Bernabe, the legal counsel representing the police officer and the village chairman cleared their names on Monday saying there is no reason for his clients to be involved in the Pagdanganan murder.

“It’s not true,” he said, referring to news stories that cited possible involvement of his clients in the murder of ex-mayor.

“There is no reason my clients to ordered the killing because there is no argument between her and the ex-mayor,” Bernabe said.