Suspected Killers of Mayor Martinez nabbed

Suspected killer, 47-year-old Ricardo Legarda y Soriano from Cavite, pictured behind bars at the Lingayen police station after being charged with the murder of Infanta town mayor Ruperto Martinez.

 By Jojo Rinoza

Two men believed to be guns for hire were apprehended by police at a checkpoint in Dasol, Pangasinan. The duo were positively identified by witnesses in the alleged killing of Infanta town mayor Ruperto M. Martinez.
 In a police report, Ruperto M. Martinez, town mayor of Infanta, Pangasinan, was gunned down by two male suspects aboard a motorcycle around 2:45pm of December 15, 2012 inside his residential compound at Barangay Cato, Infanta.
 The same day, Police Senior Superintendent Mariano Luis Verzosa Jr. conducts a case conference with members of the Special Investigation Task Group Martinez (SITG-Martinez) to track down the killers. It is here they learned the two suspects fitting the description given by the witnesses had never passed any checkpoints established in the area. Intelligence team were dispatched to monitor hotels, resorts, inns and houses for rents in Infanta and neighboring towns.
 On the afternoon of December 16, 2012, Intelligence unit of SITG-Martinez were able to track down two male fitting the description of the assailants checked-in in a resort at the neighboring town Dasol. After placing a close surveillance, the two male suspects, on board a motorcycle with no plate number, were stopped and arrested at a checkpoint conducted by uniformed policemen and intelligence operatives along the national highway in Dasol, Pangasinan.
 The two suspects are now detained at the Lingayen Police Station and were charged with murder.