Aquino: ‘Good leads’ in PH car racer murder case

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III said authorities are pursuing “good leads” in the case of Philippine racer Enzo Pastor who was shot dead by two unidentified assailants on June 12.

Aquino volunteered the information in a media interview on Tuesday, June 24, onboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR001 from Tokyo to Hiroshima in Japan where the President was on a day-long working trip.

The President cited Pastor’s case, along with positive developments in two others, in defending the police against the impression that the high crime rate in the country is due to ningas cogon or the habit of not finishing something.

“In the case of Pastor, what I understand is that there are some good leads,” he said.

He declined to give further details of the case, saying, “It’s not my style to tell you to expect good results in a day or two.”

Pastor, a EURO Nascar racer, was shot dead by two motorbike-riding assailants at the corner of Congressional Avenue and Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. 

The racer’s case was one of 3 cited by the President to show that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has not been remiss in doing its job.

He said in the case slain Mayor Ernesto Balolong of  Urbiztondo, Pangasinan, the suspects were arrested a day after he was gunned down on June 7.

The President noted that one of the suspects had faced 3 murder cases prior to his arrest, and no one wanted to testify against him in the past.

He said that in Balolong’s case, there are already eyewitness testimonies and that this should be credited to the police.

‘Clampdown, more warm bodies’

Aquino also said that in the case of Pangasinan, he ordered a “clampdown” following the murder of Balolong, a Liberal Party member, to deter more incidents of violence.

He said he ordered the PNP to put up “moving” checkpoints because permanent checkpoints would not deter crime.

Aquino also cited the case of Cebuano businessman Richard King, who was shot dead in Davao City on June 12, where several suspects have been apprehended. 

“They seem to…have developed already a very good case,” he said.

The President said the government is striving to increase the number of policemen as well as soldiers to improve the country’s peace and order situation.

“We have to deploy more warm bodies,” he said.

Aquino said in 1986, there were 250,000 policemen and soldiers protecting the safety of 50 million Filipinos. Today, the same number of policemen and soldiers are looking after nearly twice that number of Filipinos.

He said there would be 15,000 more policemen to be deployed, after the PNP hired civilian employees to replace uniformed policemen exercising clerical functions. – Rappler.com