BCPO forms special probe team on activist’s slay

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) will trace all the activities of human rights activist Zara Alvarez before she was gunned down at Eroreco Subdivision, Barangay Mandalagan here last Monday.

Police Colonel Henry Biñas, BCPO director said that a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) was created yesterday to focus the probe on the murder case, stressing that it was a sensational case.

The Police Regional Office (PRO)-6 will supervise the SITG which Biñas will lead and will include the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Bacolod, Provincial Crime Laboratory, and Intelligence Units, among others.

Biñas said the SITG will review the evidences they gathered from the crime scene and validate the testimonies of the two witnesses.

Alvarez was a Negros-based staff of Karapatan and a research and advocacy officer of the Negros Island Health Integrated Program (NIHIP). She was killed on a rainy evening last Aug 17 while on her way home.

Her companion was unharmed in the gun attack.

Biñas said they will also look for a copy of closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footages near the crime scene to help them in the possible identification of the gunman who fled along with an unidentified companion on board a motorcycle.

He believed that the gunman was a professional killer or someone adept with a gun given the manner of the killing, which he committed alone.

Earlier, police eyed grudges and Alvarez’s previous murder case as possible motives behind her death.

But Biñas said they will continue to explore all possible angles to establish the real motive.

He said they will also coordinate with Negros Oriental authorities after learning that Alvarez had previous activities there.