BANTAY, Ilocos Sur – An eyewitness has tagged a soldier of the Philippine Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion as the gunman who shot and killed an Ilocos Sur cop and a civilian several months ago, police said on Thursday.

Witness Jennelyn Isio identified the suspect twice during a line-up of 48 soldiers at the Ilocos Sur Provincial Police Office parade grounds on Wednesday morning, said Sr. Supt. Virgilio Fabros, Ilocos Sur police chief.

The suspect, identified only as “Jake,” was recognized by the witness as the man who killed Senior Police Officer 3 Joffrey Palacio and Melchor Angala.

Chief Inspector Ricarte Marquez, lead investigator and chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team in Ilocos Sur, said they were withholding the real identity of the suspect pending further investigation.

Isio remembered having talked with “Jake” prior to the shooting incident at the Sta Lucia Public Market on April 19, said Fabros.

Before the shooting, then Sta Lucia town police head Inspector Joseph Cabreros and three of his men went to check reports about armed men inside a beerhouse at the market area. The armed men turned out to be five soldiers from the 50th Infantry Battalion.

A misunderstanding allegedly ensued between the soldiers and the policemen when Cabreros questioned the soldiers’ presence brandishing their firearms. The soldiers left but reportedly came back minutes later and began shooting.

Major General Melchor Dilodilo, commander of the 5th Infantry Division, ordered his commanders to present their men in the line-up and to help in the investigation amid insinuations of a cover-up of the killing.

“Of course we won’t condone any wrongdoing among our men,” Dilodilo said. - GMANews.TV