CAGAYAN de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno urged the public to wait for the final outcome of the police investigation in the killing of prominent medical practitioner Dr. Raul Winston Andutan who was ambushed by motorcycle-riding assailants last Thursday.
“There are many angles that need to be investigated. We should not jump (to) conclusions right away,” Moreno said.
Moreno said the public should give the police some leeway to check and double-check the statements of the police.
Police arrested a fourth suspect of the ambush slay of Andutan in Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental late yesterday afternoon.
Major Evan Viñas, spokesman of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office said Felipe Tingabngab Entira, 63, a resident of Barangay Banlag, Valencia City, Bukidnon, was arrested at the bus terminal in Villanueva town as he tried to escape from the police dragnet.
Viñas said the arrest of Entira ― who acted as a lookout in the ambush slay ― brings the number of suspects to four.
The alleged ringleader of the gunmen identified as ex-Army soldier Rene Turtosa was able to escape the police who conducted the raid in their hideout in Balingoan town yesterday morning.
Viñas said the three suspects who are identified as Joel Arcilla Nacua, 37, resident of Lilingayon, Valencia City, Bukidnon, the alleged gunman; Jomar Pacilan Adlao, 30, a resident of Dulugan, Maramag, Bukidnon, the alleged driver of the getaway motorcycle; and Marjun Abayon Cabug, 39, a resident of San Antonio, Don Carlos, Bukidnon, the alleged lookout, were brought to Police Station 9 in Barangay Nazareth yesterday afternoon.
He said two cal. 45 pistols with magazines and several live ammunition and one hand grenade were seized from the suspects.
Viñas said the murder weapon; also a cal. 45 pistol was taken by the fleeing Turtosa.
PNP-10 director Benjamin Acorda Jr., said the dramatic arrests less than 24 hours after the ambush took place, came when closed-circuit television cameras in the junction of 12th street and 29th Streets caught the suspects fleeing in a motorcycle.
Acorda said the CCTV caught the suspects fleeing towards Adela Subdivision in Barangay Camaman-an.
He said residents in Adela Subdivision pointed to an apartment where they saw a white-blue-red Rusi motorcycle similar to the one driven by the suspects.
Police raided the apartment and arrested Cabug who allegedly stayed behind in the apartment as Nacua and Adlao went to Balingoan to get the P150,000 they were supposed to get for killing Andutan.
Cabug reportedly squealed prompting the police to deploy a team to Balingoan town to make the arrests.
“We again reiterate, our sincere appreciation to the community for their information. Let us continue helping one another especially in resolving crimes,” Acorda said.
Acorda and investigators have kept mum on the possible motive of the killing of Andutan pending the outcome of their investigation.
