Rotoras’ killers caught on CCTV

By BEN BALCE, Staff member
and NITZ ARANCON, Correspondent

POLICE yesterday claimed a breakthrough in the investigation into the brutal killing of University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines president Ricardo Rotoras as they confirmed that investigators found a security camera recording of the suspected killers and their getaway vehicle.

The police announcement came shortly after Dr. Rotoras’s brother Eldie addressed the crowd of thousands during the funeral yesterday morning with this message to the killers: “Alang sa mga kriminal, your days are numbered.”

Chief Insp. Mardy Hortillosa, spokesman of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, the recording was made by a closed-circuit television security system secured by the police after the Dec. 2 shooting death outside Rotoras’s home in uper Carmen.

“We have the CCTV footages,” said Hortillosa, adding that this would help in the investigation.

He said the suspected gunmen and a pick-up truck were caught on camera.

The copy is blurry but the recording is being enhanced at presstime, Hortillosa said.

The CCTV recording, he said, corroborates the accounts of one of the witnesses.

The witness, a watchman, said that days before the killing of Rotoras, there were men who were behaving suspiciously at the grassy portion near Rotoras’s house, and near the perimeter fence of Golden Glow-North subdivision.

Another witness said earlier reported to have claimed to have seen at least two gunmen being fetched by a pick-up truck following the gun attack.

“Two gunmen were mentioned during the investigation but I am unsure if there were two caught on CCTV,” said Hortillosa.

He said he hoped experts would be able to enhance and produce a clearer copy of  the recording.

Hortillosa said the cyber crime unit of the police is now trying to examine the cellular phone of Dr. Rotoras.

He said no one was able to access the cellphone yet because it’s been locked.

At the funeral yesterday, Rotoras’s elder brother Eldie called for justice and told the crowd: “Madawat man namo ang natural nga kamatayon. Madawat usab namo ang  kamatayon sa plane crash o kaha sa vehicular accident. Apan kini kamatayon sa among igso-on, dili namo madawat.”

He said his brother’s killer would pay for what they did.

There was an outpouring of emotions at the USTP gym where a mass was officiated by Fr. Roberto Yap, Xavier University president, before Rotoras’s coffined body was brought to the Greenhils Memorial Park in Bulua yesterday morning.

Many members of the murdered academic’s family and friends, faculty, staff and students cried during the final public viewing after the mass.

In the crowd were a number of city officials like councilor Ma. Lourdes Gaane, former congressman Rufus Rodriguez and his younger brother and successor in the city’s 2nd congressional district, Maximo Jr., Rotoras’s fellow Masons, judges.

In between sobs, Rotoras’s widow Zarah Lyn, said, “We love you,  we really miss you, and we will never forget you.”

She described her husband as a “responsible and loving husband,  and loving father” to their three children: Rick Laurence, 12; Erika Zara, 11; and Zariah Anika, 6.

“Don’t worry, I will take care of our child,” the widow said.

She broke into tears and wasn’t able to finish what she wanted to say, prompting Dr. Rotoras’s brother Eldie to take the floor.

He said his younger brother has left his mark at the USTP.

“Ang iyang nga  nahimo dinhi sa USTP, magpabilin nga buhi, mobarog nga sama sa monyumento nga bato, ug mapahimoslan pa kini sa daghan pang kabata-an nga nangandoy nga makabaton sa kinaadman pina-agi sa ilang pagtungha dinhi sa maong unibersidad,” he said.

Chief Insp. Allan Curato, Agora police chief, said some five thousand people came for the funeral.

Curato said the funeral resulted in traffic jams on CM Recto Ave. up to Kauswagan, and then in Bulua where there was a feast.

He said it took them two hours to reach the cemetery in Bulua.