Police eye Piatco angle in killing of assistant SolGen, son

Police investigators are eyeing the legal wrangling over the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) as the motive behind the murder of an assistant solicitor general and his son in Parañaque City Wednesday. Investigators said victim Lance Ballacillo, 57, was one of the government lawyers handling the NAIA-3 case involving the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco). "This is one of the angles we are looking into. It is possible hired gunmen killed the victim and his son," Parañaque police chief Supt. Roland Estilles said over radio station dzRH Thursday. Ballacillo, an assistant solicitor general, was killed along with his son Benedict, 23, in San Antonio Village in Parañaque City about 7 a.m. Wednesday. Police said Ballacillo and his son were waiting for a ride inside the compound when two men armed with cal-.45 pistols approached them and shot them at close range. Estilles said the victims were initially unidentified until police recovered a cell phone from one of them and called a certain "Lourdes" on the phone's phonebook. "It turned out the 'Lourdes' referred to Ballacillo's wife," he said. He also noted the murder came almost a year after Henrick Gingoyon, a judge handling a case involving Piatco was murdered in Cavite on Dec. 31 last year. Ballocillo’s brief case, which reportedly contained important documents, was missing after the incident. Estilles, however, did not immediately make clear if police have found additional basis to invite Piatco representatives for questioning. - GMANews.TV