CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The family of Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Saturday raised a P 300,000 reward to anyone who could identify the suspects in the grenade throwing at their residence in Nazareth, Cagayan de Oro City Friday morning.
Col. Aaron Mandea, the city’s police chief, said that the police investigators have retrieved the closed circuit television cameras spread across the major streets in Nazareth, which provided a concrete outline of the suspects.
He said that the CCTV clearly recorded the act when the hooded suspect lobbed the grenade about 1:12 a.m. Friday at the Rodriguez residence.
Mandea said that the face of the suspect could not be fully identified because only the eyes could be seen, but the police investigators were digging into it, especially the owner of the getaway motorcycle.
On Saturday morning, a woman identified only as “Linda” called the Magnum radio station here telling Jun Albino, the anchorman, that the life of her husband was imperil.
She narrated that her husband (she withheld the name) wanted to surrender because an identified group was hunting for his head.
Linda told Magnum radio that, including her husband, they were five (suspects) threw the botched grenade and is now in hiding fearing for his life.
She said that her husband was fetched by the other suspects in their residence in Pagadia n, Zamboanga del Norte on the night of Sept. 28 for a “job” in Cagayan de Oro City.
Linda wanted to disclose the alleged mastermind, but Jun Albino cut her short telling her to disclose the names of the mastermind to the authorities investigating the case.
Mandea said that the police were willing to talk with Linda and fscilitate the surrender of her husband.
Rodriguez has sought the assistance of all law enforcement agencies, including the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to investigate the incident and identify the mastermind.
Although no one was hurt because the grenade turned out to be dud, the Rodriguez family was taken the incident seriously because “this was the first time that our lives were threatenehed after 18 years as an elected public servant,” Deputy Speaker Rodriguez said. -0-
