(UPDATED – 8:00 p.m.) Cagayan de Oro City – School staff and students at the state university here are reeling in disbelief after the school president was gunned down outside his home at dawn Saturday.
Initial investigation by the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) indicated that the president of University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) in Cagayan de Oro, Dr Ricardo Rotoras, was killed by gunfire outside his residence at Golden Glow North Village Subdivision in Upper Carmen district at around 1:00 in the morning of December 2, 2017,
Police Senior Superintendent Robert Roy Bahian, City Police Director, said Rotoras bore “multiple gunshot wounds and was immediate brought to nearby JR Borja General Hospital, but he did not reach the medical facility alive.”
Police are looking at accounts by witnesses stating individuals have been observed loitering near the subdivision perimeter fence days before the incident.
One witness also saw two men leaving the housing subdivision after the shooting incident, where a black pick-up truck was waiting as their getaway vehicle.
Empty shells fired from a weapon believed to be from a caliber .45 handgun were recovered from the crime scene.
A special investigation task group was created by police to look into the murder. According to the Scene of the Crime Operatives-Northern Mindanao, headed by Senior Police Officer 4 Paul Jean Ragmac, Rotoras sustained eight gunshot wounds.
Rotoras, who had just come home from a party, was shot several times on the different parts of his body, just moments after getting off from his car and while waiting for his driver to come park the vehicle outside their house.
Jonathan Khobuntin, his driver for nine years, recalled he only heard 2 gunshots inside the car. “When I drove the car about 10 to 15 meters away from him, I heard two gunshots. I then saw sir Rotoras lying face-down.”
But Rotoras was hit on his head, chest, both sides, his butt cheeks, and in his left leg.
City Police Bahian said the special investigation task group named Rotoras will be headed by Deputy City Director for Operations Joram Jumalon.
Bahian added that they have also requested the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Northern Mindanao.
Police Chief Inspector Mardy Hortillas, COCPO spokesperson, said they are looking into the several angles and possible motives in the case, adding that they were able to acquire CCTV footage and was able to find witnesses.
Maricel Casino-Rivera, the City Information Officer, said City Mayor Oscar Moreno has made efforts to hasten the investigation.
“Mayor Moreno has asked for the help of Department of Justice Sec Vitaliano Aquirre and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). He also expressed condolences to the bereaved family, saying this is very sad and a great loss to the academic community and Mindanao.”
The City Government has some collaborative projects with USTP under Rotoras’s watch, including the establishment of the Building Permit Management System at the Office of the Building Official.
Nef Luczon, a member of the faculty at USTP Department of Technology Communication Management, expressed disbelief and described the death as a great loss to the academe and the university.
Rotoras, who served has headed USTP since 2006, was also the president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) for four consecutive terms. Elected unopposed for the fourth time, Rotoras was supposed to end his two-year term as PASUC head in 2019.
It was during his stint as USTP president that the university saw two major transformations, first from being declared as Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST) to its current status as the center of excellence in science and technology in Southern Philippines.
