Pursuing law enforcers have arrested three of the six suspects in Saturday morning’s attack inside the compound of Gov. Roel Degamo which killed the Governor and eight others, and injured three Provincial government Department heads.
A report from Asst. Operations head P/Cpl. Rodel Pantoja of the Bayawan City Police to PNP Provincial Director Col. Reynaldo Lizardo identified the suspects as Joric Garido Labrador, 50, of Cagayan de Oro City; Joven Calibjo Aber, 42, of La Castellana, Negros Occidental; and Benjie Buladola Rodriguez, 45, of Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental.
Rodriguez was a corporal in the Army. Labrador and Aber, are former Army rangers. Labrador’s ID, expiring in June 2023, showed that he is an agent of the PNP Criminal Investigation & Detection Group-Regional Field Unit 10.
The three captured military personnel had all been previously dishonorably discharged from the Army for various offenses, according to Brig. Gen. Leonardo Peña, commander of the 302 Infantry Brigade based in Tanjay City.
They were arrested by joint forces of the Bayawan City Police, the Philippine Army, and the Special Action Force, the elite unit of the Philippine National Police, about seven hours after the attack, as they were fleeing on foot in sitio Punong, barangay Cansumalig, Bayawan City, where they abandoned their three getaway vehicles and assault rifles, which they had earlier used to assault the home of Gov. Roel Degamo.
Degamo was meeting with constituents when the armed men arrived and started shooting around 9:40 a.m.
Eight persons were declared Dead on Arrival at Dumaguete City hospitals, while more than 16 other people were injured, including three Department heads of the Province.
Pamplona Mayor Janice Vallega-Degamo, wife of the Governor, confirmed on a Facebook video post that her husband died at 11:40 a.m. at Negros Polymedic Hospital in Sibulan town, while being treated for gunshot wounds. She asked the national government for justice.
Dauin Mayor Galicano Truita, in an interview with reporters, said while the Governor sustained multiple gunshot wounds, he died of a gunshot wound on the right side of his body that hit his heart.
A report from the Police Regional Office 7 said the gunmen were on board three SUVs – a Mitsubishi Pajero with plate number NQZ 735, a green Isuzu pick up truck with plate number GRY 162, and a black Mitsubishi Montero with plate number YAP 163.
A member of the Governor’s staff, who declined to be identified, said the armed men were allowed to enter the compound by Degamo’s civilian guard, who assumed they were military personnel who would join the meeting of the Governor with beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the DSWD.
CCTV footage shared from the crime scene showed the gunmen entering Degamo’s compound, and surveying the crowd, as if looking for the Governor.
The CCTV footage, which became viral by early afternoon, also showed the gunmen shooting the guard who opened the gate, and opened fire simultaneously at several targets.
A witness said one of the killers targeted at the guards, some shot at the crowd, and one went after the Governor .
The gunmen were also shown in the video withdrawing from the scene in a coordinated manner, with military-like precision.
They fled towards Bayawan City, where the vehicles were later found abandoned in barangay Cansumalig.
A police report said there were bloodstains in one vehicle, indicating that maybe one of the gunmen may have been wounded.
“I heard the explosions, and thought there were fireworks, and then everyone hit the ground,” recalled a Capitol employee. “When we became aware of the situation, we found that the Governor was already bleeding,”she said.
The Governor was rushed to Negros Polymedic Hospital in the town of Sibulan, about 42 kilometers south of Pamplona, while the other victims were taken to the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, Ace Doctors Hospital, and the Silliman Medical Center in Dumaguete.
The names of those who were proclaimed dead on arrival in separate hospitals were: Jessie Oreno Bot-ay, 48, from Sta. Catalina; Pamplona Kag. Jose Marie Salma Ramirez, 41 (who was the husband of Barangay Capt. Mary Ann Ramirez); Jerome Cimatra Maquiling, 48, the Governor’s driver; Jomar Villanueva Cansero, 33, driver of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital; Crispin Futalan Vallega, 40, driver/security guard; Florenda Lovitaña Quinikito; Joseph Netada; and videographer Michael Gidan Fabugais.
Among those who sustained injuries were Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council head Marlo Quilnet, and Provincial Social Welfare Officer Rosa Banquerigo.
The Governor had been taking extra security precautions earlier, and would go around the Province in a bullet-proof vehicle. “One time we went to Guihulngan, we passed by Negros Occidental so we would not take the same route coming home,” a close-in companion of Degamo said.
Siaton Mayor Cezanne Fritz Diaz also said the Governor even called his attention for not riding a bullet-proof car one time. “The Governor told me that these are dangerous times, and that we should be careful at all times,” he said.
Mayor Diaz added that the Governor’s killing was surely politically-motivated. “I don’t have to say it but we all know the motive. We can even determine the motive with our eyes closed,” he said.
Degamo was on his fourth term as governor, which he won in the 2021 elections in a closely-fought electoral battle. He initially lost to candidate Pryde Henry Teves but the Comelec eventually declared Degamo the winner after invalidating the candidacy of a nuisance bet, Ruel Degamo, and adding Ruel’s votes to Roel Degamo’s votes.
The Supreme Court, in a decision released on Feb. 14, confirmed Degamo’s electoral victory.
Degamo’s rise to power had many people believe he was indeed “God-ordained”.
Elected as No. 1 Provincial Board Member in 2010, he rose to become vice governor after the duly-elected Governor, Emilio Macias II, passed away due to illness.
In January 2011, Degamo assumed the governorship after the death of Gov. Agustin Perdices, who had just replaced Macias barely three months earlier.
Degamo would tell the people, “God gave me this [gubernatorial] post.”
Vice Gov. Guido Reyes, who is supposed to succeed Governor Degamo, is on medical leave, having just come back from Manila for treatment.
In a Facebook post, 2nd District Cong. Chiquiting Sagarbarria, which has jurisdiction over Pamplona, expressed sympathies for the families of Degamo and those of the other victims.
“I am deeply concerned and saddened by the tragic event that transpired this morning at Pamplona. No cause can justify the killing of Gov. Roel Degamo and several other innocent persons,” he said.
“Let us come together as a community in this dark moment in the history of our Province, and call on law enforcement authorities to conduct a serious and honest investigation into the killings, and bring those responsible to justice,” the Congressman added.
