Personal affairs possible motive in ex-fraternity officer’s killing; person of interest eyed — CCPO exec

A man was ambushed by still unidentified assailants while traversing Tres de Abril Street in barangay Calamba, Cebu City, past 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 8. | via Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police have zeroed in on the personal affairs as the possible motive in the killing of Richard Buscaino, a former fraternity officer,  who was gunned down in a late afternoon ambush on October 8.

Aside from that, police had also a person of interest in Buscaino’s murder, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office, in a press briefing on Monday, October 12,

Parilla said that they had ruled out the political and fraternity-related conflicts as the motive behind the killing.

He said that they were now reinvestigating a failed ambush of Buscaino in 2018.

Parilla described the 2018 failed ambush as similar to what happened last October 8, because it happened in the same area and the vehicle that Buscaino used then was the same one that he drove when he was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

He also pointed out that during that 2018 ambush, Buscaino received death threats, which was what also happened to him prior to his 2021 ambush.

He said although there was no identified assailant in that 2018 attack, they still digged into it for any leads that might point them to the identity of the killers.

As for the person of interest, Parilla said that he could not give more details about the person because they were still gathering more information on the case.

 He also said that they were also looking into the business affairs of Buscaino, with him being the owner of a funeral parlor.

After looking at the security footage taken from security cameras in the area, Parilla said that they were also trying to find out if the SUV ahead of Buscaino was involved in the ambush.

He said that they were trying to locate the owner of the vehicle to find out if the vehicle was used to block the SUV of Buscaino, causing him to stop, which provided an opportunity for the motorcycle-riding gunmen to attack him.

He also said that the gunman, who shot dead Buscaino, was probably a gun-for-hire, considering the way he executed the shooting.

He also said that the killer used a .45 caliber pistol and that more than 6 shots were fired at Buscaino.

Parilla said that he hoped that the murder of Buscaino, who was a former officer of a fraternty, would be solved with the investigation now having direction to focus on.

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