STRAIGHT TO THE POINT: Questions behind Fiscal Castro’s murder

Atty. Ruphil Bañoc

No one can presume to know the depths of pain one experiences over the death of one’s mother; more so, if such death is a gruesome one.

The daughter of the late prosecutor Mary Ann Castro, Monique Castro Roa, visited me in my Straight to the Point program aired over dyHP RMN Cebu, for a live interview.

She revealed on-air that their family is not satisfied with the way the PNP handles the investigation of the death of her mother. She appreciated the investigation of the NBI but still has many questions.

Both agencies have not gotten any lead yet as to the brutal ambush of  her mother last January 17, 2019. They decided to break their silence after the remains of the late prosecutor was peacefully buried in their place in Clarin, Misamis Occidental in Mindanao.

She said that she wondered that the dash camera of her mother’s car has not recorded anything at the very time and date the latter was murdered. Such car was under the custody of Fuente Police Station from the time of the incident until they recovered it from the said station.

She was told by the police that they have not touched the dash camera of the late prosecutor’s car. She also recovered from the police the cellular phone of her mother but she could not read any message that would lead to solve the crime.

She is in a quandary. The family is in a hard puzzle as to the mastermind of the death of the late prosecutor. What is certain for them is that the killer is an expert and well-trained marksman because the body of the late fiscal has five gunshot wounds but all bullets passed through a single whole of the car. They are termed by gun enthusiasts as “grouping” bullet hits.

Although Monique is a witty lady, a magna cum Laude graduate at the University of San Carlos and a graduating student of the UP College of Law, I presume she has no knowledge as to the activities of her mother. I am pretty sure that the late prosecutor did not tell her daughter anything that could bother her preparation in the law school and in the bar exam this year. Hence, she faces a blank wall now.

Facing a blank wall, she suggested to the investigating agencies to look at all angles that caused her mother’s death. She particularly mentioned the following angles: work related; her case filed against the PNP-RSOG; her colorful life, the latest of which was her relationship with Greco Sanchez; etcetera.

Which of those angles led to her brutal killing? Why a lady prosecutor had to be killed in such a way?  How angry with her the mastermind was?

But wait. What about the tarpaulin being placed in a flyover in Barangay Mambaling with her picture together with the late Mayor Rolando Espinosa, the Late Vice Mayor and Lawyer Jonah John Ungab, and Former Mayor Mike Rama?   Was there not a question that says,“Whose next?” In fact, such question bothered former mayor Rama. Does such tarpaulin have any relation to Castro’s death?

While I don’t believe that the murder of Castro is state-sponsored, absent any evidence, I just wonder why the investigating agencies seem to be not serious in solving the crime!