NO CCTV

CCTV CAMERA (tri-tel.com)

There was no security guard and there were no security cameras installed in the building where businessman Richard King was killed.

The chief of police of Davao City also said that King, chairman and chief executive officer of J. King and Sons Co. Inc. and owner of the Crown Regency hotel and resorts chain, had no bodyguard at the time he was shot dead Thursday evening.

“Ang iyang building kay walay CCTV (closed-circuit television) nga required man unta na diri sa Davao unya wa pa gyud sya’y guard,” Senior Supt. Vicente D. Danao, chief of police of Davao City, told Cebu Daily News.

(His building has no CCTV camera which is a requirement here in Davao. There was also no security guard on duty.)

Edward Tan head of marketing and communications of J. King and Sons Co. Inc., said King didn’t have any bodyguard and that he didn’t know if his boss had received death threats. He added they too were waiting for the results of the police investigation because they had no idea why anyone would want King dead.

He said what he knew was that King flew to Davao City to attend the culmination of a wellness training for Vital C Health Products Inc., also owned by King.

Tan and King last talked on Wednesday. King reportedly told Tan to see him on Friday for their management committee meeting.

A still unidentified gunman fatally shot the 57-year-old King inside his office at the Vital C Building. He was about to have dinner with his employees past 6 p.m. when he was gunned down.
Police quoting witnesses said the gunman did not wear any mask to conceal his identity. He fled unmolested on a motorcycle driven by a cohort.

Danao said that while they were able to piece together a facial composite based on witnesses’ accounts, investigators could have had easily identified the suspects had there been cameras installed inside the building’s premises.

So far, the only other information available was that the gunman was about 5’5” tall and of medium build.

Duterte order

An executive order issued by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte in Sept. 2013 directs all commercial establishments in the city to install CCTV cameras “in all entrance and exit points of their premises”.

“Cameras shall be positioned within eye level of an averaged height person to ensure facial and physical identity of everyone who enters and leaves the mall’s and/or commercial center’s premises,” Section 1 of E.O. 24-2013 reads.

Business owners who fail to comply with the requirement will have their business permits suspended and/or revoked and their establishment closed down. The city police was mandated to enforce and monitor compliance of the executive order.

Duterte, who is known for his tough anti-criminality stance, issued the order in the aftermath of the simultaneous bombing of two movie houses in two malls in the city in the evening of Sept. 16, 2013.

The executive order was meant to add teeth to City Ordinance 0467 which was enacted in December 2012.

The Davao City police said investigators were not zeroing in on any particular angle at this time but King’s business deals would be considered.

The regional police in Central Visayas is also conducting a parallel probe.

Chief Supt. Prudencio Banas, director of Police Regional Office 7, said there is a possibility that the assailants have been chasing King in Cebu .

Supt. Fermin Armendarez, deputy director of the PNP Central Visayas unit of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said they will ask King’s family if the businessman had received death threats.

The businessman’s remains are expected to arrive in Cebu today.

According to Edward Tan, head of marketing and communications of J. King and Sons Co Inc., members of the King family left for Davao City immediately after they were informed of the incident.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he has spoken to Mayor Duterte and asked for the immediate resolution of King’s murder.

“I have talked to Mayor Duterte and he promised to give me an update on any developments on the case,” he said.

The mayor has also directed Senior Supt. Noli Romana, chief of police of Cebu City, to provide security to the King family.

Mancom meeting

King, chairman and chief executive officer of J. King and Sons Co. Inc., was to have presided over a management committee meeting in Cebu yesterday morning. The meeting pushed through despite the tragic death of the company’s patriarch.

Tan said the meeting was presided over by King’s younger brother, Rafael, the company president.

The company later issued a statement that King’s five siblings as well as the corporate management team will continue all operations of J. King and Sons Co. Inc and its affiliate companies.

“We enjoin everyone to pray for the repose of the soul of Richard King. We also appeal to all concerned sectors, including the media, to await the investigation’s results of the case and refrain from hurling malicious lies and accusations about Richard King,” the statement said.

“We are one with the family and friends of Richard King during this most difficult time, and urge the authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a separate statement, expressing its condolences to King’s family.

“We believe the police will give this priority. We recognize his creative concept that is unique in the hotel industry which also created job opportunities,” the statement said.

Sources told the Inquirer that King’s family members were saddened, shocked and confused over his killing.

Tan said they were shocked when they learned what happened to King, whom he described as a strict father-figure to his employees.

King was described as a “visionary” by his employees with whom he shared his plans and vision for the company.

King, a chemical engineer, was the eldest of six siblings. He is survived by his wife, Katherine and two children – both teenagers.

His father, Jesus King, owned several buildings and apartments in Cebu and Manila.

Tan said King had a vision to build motels where the rooms would be rented per hour or day unlike apartments that are rented by month.

King put up Prince Court in Mandaue City in the mid 1990s. Later, he built another motel, King’s Court, just in front of Prince Court. This started King’s foray in the hospitality business.

Under the mother company, J. King and Sons, are several subsidiaries: Crown Regency Hotels and Resorts, Club Ultima, Fuente Triangle, First Laundry, Vital C Health Products Inc., Prana Medispa, Sky Experience Adventure, Prince Court Hotels and Suites, Metrosports Center, Ultima Sharp Shooters Club, among others.

King, whose company operates hotels and resorts here, in Cebu, Boracay and Makati, figured in controversies in the past.

Last year, King’s hotel was dragged into the killing of Dexter Condez, spokesperson of the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization who was gunned down on Feb. 22, 2013.

Daniel Celestino, security guard of Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center, was detained and charged with murder after he was identified as the gunman in the killing of Condez.
King had decried reports linking his hotel to the killing.

J. King and Sons Co. Inc is among those with boundary disputes or ownership claims over land covered by the tribe’s title.

The businessman also had his share of controversy in Cebu.

He had a public squabble with then Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza in 2007 over a dispute on permits.

King accused Radaza of extortion, claiming that the attempt was caught on tape. Radaza fought back and filed a complaint for violation of Anti-Wiretapping Law and grave threats against King and brother Rafael

In 2002, King accused Cebu Regional Trial Court Judge Agapito Hontanosas for allegedly soliciting P250,000 for a favorable court decision in a suit he filed against the couple Nelson and Lucy Go.

He also sued a local newspaper for publishing an article linking him to the smuggling of pseudoephedrine. /with Connie Fernandez and reports from Chief of Reporters Doris Bongcac, reporters Aileen Yap and Dale Israel, correspondent Chito Aragon and USJ-R interns Zonah Perez, Maeine Mosquite and Mayfair dela Cerna

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