MABALACAT CITY – The ambush-slaying of Marian Lucas Gantan, 29, along the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Mabiga here on November 23 could not have been a case of mistaken identity as earlier claimed by the victim’s mother. Supt. Henry G. Flores, chief of police, said on Wednesday that the police never asserted that it was a case of mistaken identity and based on the evidence gathered so far even as he declined to give further details on the case.
Flores said it was the victim’s mother, Pyra Lucas, 47, who was claiming that it was a case of mistaken identity. Lucas insists that it was she who was the real target because of her crusade against corruption. Lucas was seen in the crime scene moments after the shooting claiming it was Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales who was responsible for her daughter’s killing.
A man, who was later identified by the police as John Ramos, was also in the crime scene telling onlookers that it was a case of mistaken identity because it was the victim’s mother who was receiving death threats and she was the real target. When asked who he was,
Ramos claimed he was the victim’s husband. “Aku ing asawa na,” he said. But this was contrary to the police report that the victim, Gantan, was single. Ramos was also photographed poring over the lifeless body of the victim while the police were waiting for the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) to arrive to process the crime scene.
A reliable police source close to the investigation described the ambush-slay as “a professional hit.” The police source said there seems to be deliberate attempts to mislead investigators into the real motive and the mastermind behind the killing.
