Police probe murder of Pangasinan exec's son

Police in Pangasinan province have formed a task force to look into the murder of Rene Parayno, a son of an Urdaneta City councilor, last Monday. Ilocos regional police head Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil directed Pangasinan provincial director Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez to organize a task force that will look into the killing. An unidentified man shot dead Rene near his house along J.P. Rizal Street, in Bayaoas village in Urdaneta City Monday. Bataoil said the investigating body, called Task Force Parayno, will be under Senior Superintendent Ric Zapata, deputy chief of the Pangasinan police. He said Urdaneta police director Superintendent Jimili Macaraeg will work with Zapata so that the investigation on the case would be sped up. Also, he tasked Nerez to appoint a task force spokesman who will coordinate with the victim’s family and provide information to the media on developments. But he did not give any deadline to the solution of the case. "I just want it (killing of Rene) solved soon. What is important is they are focused on the investigation without letup," he said. Bataoil said they might rule out politics in the killing of the younger Parayno because Urdaneta City is not being considered as an election area of concern. Meanwhile, Board Member Emmanuel Caracho denied the accusation of the Parayno family that he was behind the killing of Rene. "I’ve been in politics for 22 years. I fight my political opponents only through an election. I do not kill and I do not order to kill them. That is not in my system and that is not my character," he said. He said the accusation hurts him so much but "I am open for any investigation. I personally asked the police that I be investigated." Urdaneta Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr, for his part, appealed to the people not to attribute the killing of Rene to politics. "To my mind, I don’t think politics is involved here. There are unconfirmed reports that the victim had some quarrels in the past. I don’t know if a third party is involved here to put us in a bad light," he said. - GMANews.TV