PNP: Masterminds, gunmen in couple’s bus slay identified

 Cases set to be filed 

CARRANGLAN, Nueva Ecija -- The gunmen who shot and killed two bus passengers while in transit here have been identified, along with “masterminds,” according to the Philippine National Police.
    PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the PNP is preparing charges against the two assailants and more than one mastermind.
    Police have identified the man and a woman gunned down inside a Victory Bus Liner in this town afternoon of Nov. 15.
    The Nueva Ecija Provincial Police Office condemned the killing of Gloria Atillano, 60, of Purok 6, Santa Luceana, Cauayan City, Isabela, and Arman Bautista, 55, of Koronadal City, South Cotabato. 
    “We are just completing the papers and sworn statements of the victims’ relatives. Any time this week, we are preparing to file a case,” said Fajardo Tuesday. “We will announce the suspects’ identities and the cases against them soon. But I can assure you that investigators are very confident they got the correct persons involved, including the two gunmen and masterminds.”
    According to Fajardo, the gun shells retrieved from the bus matched with others found in three previous shooting incidents in Isabela and Nueva Ecija, which helped them identify the assailants, who are reportedly members of a gun-for-hire group.
    Last Nov. 15, the couple was shot four times in the head and neck on board a Victory Liner bus traveling through the mountainous part of Barangay Minuli, as seen in a video that had gone viral on social media.
    PNP earlier said that the son of the female victim was eyed as a “person of interest” in the case, saying that they were involved in a conflict that had gotten to a point where she filed a carnapping case against her son. – Faith Argosino