At least three suspects will be charged for the broad daylight killing of Dumaguete businessman Demetrio “Pororoy” Larena III in barangay Campaclan, Sibulan, Negros Oriental last Thursday.
Sr. Supt. Edward Carranza, Police Provincial Director of Negros Oriental, named the suspects as brothers Jimmy and Jerry Inocerta and a certain Misael, all of Siaton town.
Jimmy Inocerta and Misael are members of the anti-communist Pulahan cult operating in the hinterlands of Siaton but are also believed to be members of an organized group of robbers operating in the towns of Sibulan, San Jose and Amlan towns.
Their identities were revealed by Jerry Inocerta, the caretaker of Larena’s beachhouse in barangay Cangmating, Sibulan town.
Jerry and his wife, Expedita, admitted to having knowledge about the crime upon intense questioning by investigators.
“The motive of the killing was personal in nature,” Carranza announced in a press conference at Camp Francisco Fernandez in barangay Agan-an,Sibulan Friday. He also said that they will reveal other details after the case has been filed.
He said that the police initially thought that the motive could have been robbery because the victim was a banker and a pawnshop owner, but the children said their father does not usually carry cash or other valuables.
He said while they are concentrating on the personal angle, they are not closing the door to other angles that may surface.
“We are trying to establish a conspiracy because the alleged gunman is a brother of Jerry and in our initial investigation, Jerry is a principal by inducement,” Carranza said. “It appears that all these things had been planend way ahead and that the suspect has been in collaboration with Jerry Inocerta because they are brothers.”
Carranza said he dispatched four teams to run after the suspects Jimmy Inocerta and a certain Misael, who are believed to be hiding in the hinterlands of Siaton town.
Jerry Inocerta, who is now in NBI custody, also surrendered a cal.38 revolver. Expedita was also held by police for further questioning.
Carranza said that their investigation showed that Larena was alone in his Pajero SUV that Thursday and when he reached the Magsaysay Elementary School in barangay Campaclan, Sibulan, he slowed down as if looking for somebody and that enabled the two waiting gunmen to rush up to Larena’s vehicle, open the SUV’s right passenger door and shoot the victim. Larena was shot in the head and below the right ear. Witnesses said the gunmen had been waiting for Larena for over an hour.
Larena’s vehicle then coasted to a stop some six inches from a sari-sari store.
The gunfire alerted two policemen–PO3 Crisanto Garet, Jr., of the Municipality of Amlan Police Office and a certain P01 Fabres of the Regional Mobile Group who happened to be passing by on a passenger bus. They got out of the vehicle and they saw a person trying to remove a bloodied body from the driver’s seat of the Pajero. The policemen fired at the suspects.
The suspects exchanged fire with the policemen, using the open driver’s door of the SUV as cover.
Customers eating inside the sari-sari store all ducked for cover. “Not one of us could see what was happening outside,” said a customer who asked not to be identified.
The suspects made a getaway by commandeering a Honda Wave motorcycle, which was later abandoned in barangay Malabo, Valencia. It was recovered by the Valencia police. Witnesses reported that one of the two suspects was wounded in the left temple.
Police also recovered two shells of a .45 caliber bullet and one 9 mm bullet.
Larena, a grandson of the first Negros Oriental Governor Demetrio Larena, owned the Rural Bank of Amlan, as well as the Agencia Carmen pawnshops in Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental. He was also the president of the Rotary Club of Dumaguete. He turned 65 last Sunday, October 16.