The Police Regional Office Northern Mindanao (PRO 10) has determined some persons of interest in the killing of a former National Irrigation Authority (NIA) legal researcher.
The police declined to identify the persons and their number.
‘There was a threat to the life of the victim as early as last year, but we’re looking into all angles,’ PRO 10 Director Brig. Gen. Christopher Abrahano said in a phone interview with reporters in Camp Crame on Tuesday.
‘We have persons of interest that we’re looking at. We are confident that, at the soonest possible time, we will resolve this crime,’ Abrahano said.
He refused to disclose the profiles of the persons of interest or how many they were, citing that the investigation is still ongoing.
Ex-NIA 10 researcher and lawyer Niruh Kyle Antatico, 40, was killed by gunmen on a motorcycle at Crossing Patag in Cagayan de Oro City last Friday. Antatico left NIA 10 last year and, in online posts leading up to his killing, made allegations of anomalies in connection with a P75-million project of the agency, according to Abrahano.
‘Based on the modus operandi and the gunmen’s movements, our investigators’ confidence is high that these are guns-for-hire,’ Abrahano pointed out.
The Northern Mindanao top cop further said NIA Central Office Administrator Eduardo Guillen wrote to him, saying they were offering a P100,000 reward for anyone who could come forward and give information that will lead to the resolution of the case.
In a statement on Monday, Acting Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. ordered the creation of a special investigation task group to look into Antatico’s killing.