Vendor gets P50,000 reward for info on Australian’s murder

ANGELES CITY – A cigarette vendor here has received a P50,000 reward for identifying one of the two men who gunned down the Australian owner-president of a company at the Clark Freeport last Sept. 24.

Senior Supt. Pierre Bucsit, city police chief, said Ivan Brown, brother of victim Malcolm Brown, offered a reward of P500,000 to P1 million for information leading to the arrest of the two gunmen and the one who hired them.

Brown, 55, was the owner and president of Outback Five Star Inc., which manufactures coolers and iceboxes at Clark.

His wife, Gloria, took over the management of the company after his death. Bucsit said Ivan gave the vendor P50,000 only, pending the arrest of all the suspects.

He said he was hopeful even the police would partake of the P1 million once the case is solved.

The vendor identified the suspected gunman from the rogues’ gallery of the city police, Bucsit told newsmen.

“The identified suspect is known to belong to a gun-for-hire gang and is known to have been dropped from the ranks of the rebel movement RHB (Rebolusyonaryong Hukbo ng Bayan) because of his criminal involvements. Now it is clear that there was a mastermind,” Bucsit said.

Buscit didn’t reveal the full identities of both the witness and the suspect but identified him as a certain Ona.

Brown was shot several times by two motorcycle-riding men as he drove home along the highway in Barangay Anonas here at around 5:30 p.m. last Sept. 24.

Before killing Brown, the gunmen had bought cigarettes from the vendor.

“We have circumstantial evidence against somebody whom we suspect to be the mastermind, and the capture of the suspected gunman will complete our investigation toward arresting the author of the crime,” Bucsit said, without elaborating. Bucsit said guns-for-hire get no more than P100,000 for a kill, although some agree to only P15,000.

“Most of them are former members of rebel groups,” he said. -- DF