Masons raise to P2m reward against killers of Rotoras

MEMBERS of the Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines here yesterday raised the reward against the killers of University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines president Ricardo Rotoras to P2 million.

In a statement, the Masonic districts of Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro, and Camiguin announced that they were pledging P1 million more on top of other rewards for information leading to the immediate capture and incarceration of the murderers and their cohorts.

On Saturday night, Mayor Oscar Moreno offered a P1-million reward in exchange for useful information against Rotoras’s killers.

Rotoras was an active member of the Masonic community. His shooting death came shortly after he attended a party organized by his fellow Masons at N Hotel in Kauswagan.

Nixon Baban, a Mason, said the statement released by the Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines here was signed by two Masonic district deputy grand masters.

Read parts of the strongly worded statement: “Our Worthy Brother, Ricardo Enriquez Rotoras, has left to that ‘undiscovered country, from whose bourne, no traveler returns!’

“His untimely and sudden demise devastates the Masonic Community in which he has singularly distinguished himself as a worshipful brother who lives by its tenets of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth…

“The Masonic Community, here and throughout the Philippines, strongly and vigorously condemns with vehemence the murder of our dearly beloved brother, Ricardo E. Rotoras. We believe with certainty that like our illustrious forebear who was murdered by the ruffians inside the Temple, the ruffians who mercilessly our beloved brother, Ric Rotoras mercilessly shall be punished as surely as the sun rises in the East…

“An afterword, a solemn reminder to the murderers:

“You can run, but justice will overtake you

“You can hide, but justice will find you!”