The Manila Police District (MPD) is now looking for four “persons of interest” in the Nov. 4 killing of a Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) officer in Malate, Manila.
In a press conference yesterday, MPD showed the screenshots of the two alleged gunmen and two other accomplices who were tracked through a closed circuit television (CCTV) footage.
“Our persons of interest are two unidentified armed men on board a motorcycle, color and blue and gray with unknown license plate and another two unidentified male persons of interest. They are all at large,” Brigadier General Bernabe Balba, Manila Police District’s acting director, said.
Balba said the two gunmen were wearing blue bull caps during the ambush.
Another person of interest was wearing a red shirt. He was the one who waited outside of the DoLE office and pointed the vehicle of victim Helen Dacanay to the gunmen, Balba said.
The fourth suspect was a “back-up driver” who took away the abandoned vehicle for the gunmen.
On November 4, Dacanay, 59, a senior labor employment officer, along with a labor arbiter, had just left the office on board a dark gray Honda vehicle when two unidentified gunmen fired at their car on Malvar Street corner Singalong Street.
She was rushed to Ospital ng Maynila where she was declared dead on arrival due to gunshot wounds in the chest and shoulder.
Dacanay did not receive death threats prior to the incident, according to her relatives.
Balba, however, said the cellphone of Dacanay was being examined by authorities.
Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, acting National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director, appealed to the public to help them identify the suspects.
“We are appealing to the public for anyone who have witnessed the incident to give us information relative to the identity of the suspects,” Sinas said during the press briefing.
Sinas said they are currently focusing their probe on the identities of the shooters.
“Sa ngayon, there is a separate team reviewing whatever additional documents that are being shared by the DoLE. Now the identities first of the shooters kasi usually pag nakuha natin ‘yung identities ng shooters, they might reveal something na nag-hire o nag-utos sa kanila para barilin ‘yung victim,” Sinas said.
The MPD has created a special investigation task force to probe the killing of Dacanay upon orders of Sinas. They can be contacted through cell numbers 0916-064-3297 or 0939-324-8633. (Erma Edera)
