BINMALEY – Two more suspected guns-for-hire in Dagupan City were identified and arrested.

The two suspects in the attempted slaying of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Magin Niño Orlino of San Carlos City were arrested one after the other Friday in Dagupan City by members of the Binmaley police and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation.

P/Supt. Rudolph Dimas, chief of police of Binmaley, identified the suspects as Hadji Paras of Bacayao Norte, tagged as the triggerman who shot Orlino three times, using a hand gun, and Ernesto Manaoat of Perez Market, identified as the driver of the motorcycle that tailed and caught up with Orlino riding his own scooter along the highway in barangay Biec, Binmaley at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday.

Both Paras and Manaoat are suspected members of a guns-for-hire syndicate. Some of their accomplices are now behind bars.

Paras was shot and wounded on the right side of his abdomen and right foot after he was fired upon by arresting lawmen in front of the Sabangan Elementary School in Bonuan Gueset, Dagupan City as he was trying to reach for his gun, a caliber 45 pistol.

Two hours later, Mamaoat was arrested by joint elements of the Binmaley police and NBI on Perez Market site   near his house. He is now under the custody of the NBI.

Both Paras and Mamaoat were positively identified by Prosecutor Orlino as the ones who shot him point blank while he was traveling to Lingayen from San Carlos City where he attended a court trial.

Two persons who witnessed the shooting also came forward to identify the two as the ones who shot and wounded Prosecutor Orlino.

The arrest of the two finally confirmed earlier suspicions of the Police and NBI that the shooting of Orlino was work-related as he is handling several sensational cases involving known personalities linked to a guns-for-hire syndicate.

On the day of the failed assassination, Orlino opposed a motion of the lawyer of Willy Mendoza, alias Samal, seeking the transfer of the latter from the district jail in San Carlos City to the Provincial Jail in Lingayen.    

Mendoza was tagged as the principal suspect in the slaying of Barangay Captain Leonides Bulatao of barangay Tambac in Malasiqui on Dec. 16, 2003 in front of the Malasiqui Municipal Hall.

Cases for frustrated murder are now being prepared by the police and NBI against the two, and illegal possession of unlicensed firearm against Paras. –EVA

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