Lapu-Lapu City: Suspects offered P75,000 to kill market assistant
Lapu-Lapu City Market Assistant Christopher Ceniza was shot dead on the evening of January 2. | Photo from LLCPO
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — One of the suspects in the murder of Lapu-Lapu City Market Assistant Christopher Ceniza said he was offered cash to serve as the driver of the gunman’s getaway vehicle.
But he never received his share of the P75, 000 that was promised by the mastermind, whom he identified as a certain “Madam.”
Also, the suspect, whose name was withheld by the Lapu-Lapu City police, said he regretted his involvement in the murder of Ceniza.
“Nagmahay ko sir pero utang kabubot-on [ang hinungdan] ba kay sila may nagpasud nako [sa trabaho],” the suspect said in an interview with DYSS Super Radyo GMA on Monday, January 15.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Christian Torres, spokesperson of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, said they are now looking at the possibility of turning the suspect into a state witness because of his knowledge of the crime, its mastermind and the other individuals who are involved.
Ceniza worked as an executive assistant at the Lapu-Lapu City Public Market. He was shot dead on the evening of January 2 as he was collecting rental from night market vendors.
Based on the outcome of their investigation, Torres said that “Madam” had Ceniza killed because he opposed the practice of collecting “payola” from market vendors.
Murder suspects
LCPO now has custody of three men – gunman, negotiator, and getaway vehicle driver – who were implicated in Ceniza’s murder.
One of the three men surrendered to Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan on January 9 saying that he was bothered by his conscience.
The suspect was Ceniza’s colleague at the city public market, assigned as a driver.
He was also identified by two witnesses who saw him near the crime scene a few minutes before Ceniza’s murder.
In his radio interview, the suspect described the mastermind in Ceniza’s murder as a certain “Madam.”
He claimed that he, the negotiator, and the gunman were offered P75, 000 to kill the market assistant. But he never received his share of the cash.
Torres said they are now in the process of gathering additional documents, evidences and witnesses that they will use to support the filing of a murder case against the people behind Ceniza’s murder, including its mastermind, at the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office.
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