The suspect in police custody. Photo by Armand M. Galang
SAN JOSE CITY – The self-confessed look-out in the killing of Mary Anne Hernandez, executive assistant of former Gov. Czarina Umali, said his group took severaldays in planning and twice aborted the execution before she was finally gunned down in Talavera town on Jan. 14, 2018.
But former security guard and agriculture worker Ronald Magat, 30, a resident of Barangay Tondod here, claimed he had no idea as to the motive of the murder.
He also claimed he was taken off the plot when it was aborted on Jan. 8 even as he was already positioned near a white van to wait for Hernandez somewhere in Cabanatuan City that day.
“Hindi po nila nagawa yung plano tapos sila na lang po ang nagsona,” Magat told the media when brought by the police to Mayor Mario Salvador of this city Tuesday.
Magat would not identify the owner of the white van.
He was arrested in Barangay Canuto Ramos here in the afternoon of Sept. 5, according to city police chief Lt. Col. Heryl Bruno.
He said he learned of Hernandez death while he was working in a farm after several days. He neverthelesswent into hiding as per advice by his group, he said
They were six in the group, including two of his relatives, the two who actually pulled the trigger, and the alleged contractor, he said.
Bruno expressed belief the arrest of Magat will lead to the delivery of justice to the victim.
Hernandez, 38, was repeatedly shot in front of her two children and a househelp inside a vehicle driven by her husband when they stopped to gas up in Talavera.
