A Mitsubishi Strada pickup truck suspected used in last week’s daytime murder of Dumaguete broadcaster Mercedario “Dindo” Generoso was found abandoned Sunday afternoon in West Balabag in nearby Valencia town.
Police investigators on Monday said the vehicle matched what was seen in closed-circuit television (CCTV) footages that also show the alleged triggerman, an active member of the Philippine National Police, prior to the commission of the crime.
The vehicle is registered in the name of one Tomasino C. Aledro, a resident of Block 4 Lot 1, Azumi Subdivision, Barangay Batinguel in this city.
Valencia chief of police, Maj. Romeo Cubo, said they received information that a vehicle was abandoned at a private lot along a proposed barangay road in Purok 4, West Balabag.
Cubo then coordinated with the Scene of the Crime Operatives, the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office and the Highway Patrol Group for help in the retrieval of the vehicle.
The pickup truck, when found, was covered by a blue “trapal” or tarpaulin.
Upon inspection, investigators discovered that it bore the same conduction sticker 0500 but had a different plate number, GAM 1959, believed to be the original one registered in Aledro’s name.
CCTV footage had shown that the vehicle had a different plate number attached to it on the day Generoso was gunned down but the conduction sticker was not covered.
The same vehicle was parked a few meters away from the intersection in Barangay Piapi where two motorcycle-riding suspects fired at Generoso last Thursday while he was driving his car to work.
According to neighbors, the vehicle had arrived at the private lot in West Balabag on Thursday evening, after which the driver boarded a motorcycle and left the area.
A locksmith was brought in to pry open the vehicle to check for possible contraband items and to process it for possible evidence that would help in the investigation.
Aledro was included in the filing of murder charges in relation to Generoso’s murder due to the alleged “participation” of his vehicle in the commission of the crime, said Col. Julian Entoma, the provincial police director.
The three other named respondents are Teddy Reyes Salaw, 44, of Lower Batinguel, Dumaguete; Glenn Mariño Corsame, a retired police personnel, of legal age, and a resident of San Jose Village, Barangay Banilad here; and Corporal Roger Rubio, from Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, a policeman assigned to the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company.
Salaw, the alleged driver of the pickup truck, and Corsame, who allegedly drove the motorcycle with Rubio allegedly as backrider, were arrested several hours after Generoso was killed, and are now in the custody of the police.
Aledro remains at large. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
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