Chief Inspector Reynaldo dela Cruz, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija police chief, identified the victim as Clemencia Marquez, 67, of Barangay Liwayway, that town.
She was the mother of Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the AFP’s civil relations services in Western Visayas.
Dela Cruz identified the suspect in the killing as one Winston Guevarra, 33, of the same barangay. He added that two witnesses told investigators that they saw the suspect lobbed a grenade whose subsequent explosion killed the victim.
The suspect is said to be a nephew of the victim.
Witnesses, according to dela Cruz, said that Guevarra and Marquez engaged in a heated argument allegedly over a land problem. The latter, the witnesses said, asked Guevarra to stop taking photographs of the piece of land which is a subject of a dispute.
Heated exchange of words ensued.
Moments later, they said, the former was seen throwing a grenade which landed a few feet away from where the victim was standing.
Capt. Marquez, in a statement to the media in Western Visayas, suspected that communist rebels threw the grenade in their yard that killed his mother.
He also said that his father was tortured and killed by NPA rebels in 1987.
Dela Cruz said Guevarra, who is now in police detention, has been charged with murder before the prosecutor’s office.
