BACOLOD City – The murder of former Negros Slashers guard and former Barangay 35 captain Manuel “Maui” Huelar could have been “well planned,” police investigators said.
Police Station 4 commander, Police Major Reynante Jomocan, said the suspects could have monitored the movements of Huelar, who was shot in the neck area.
According to Jomocan, he has interviewed the caretaker of Villamonte Gym, where Huelar was killed, but was unable to identify the gray-colored t-shirt suspect as the incident happened so fast.
Police officers who were conducting checkpoint near the gym were also unable to catch the gunner as he already fled when they reached the crime scene.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Negros Occidental head Nicholas Gomez, for his part, said that they are looking at drugs as possible motive behind the murder of Huelar.
Gomez said in an interview with Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod on Friday that Huelar has reportedly returned to illegal drug trade since being released from detention in 2018.
Gomez added that if they will be able to validate that Huelar has returned to his illegal activity prior to his death, they will trace the victim’s possible accomplices and investigate their activities.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, meanwhile, has tasked Bacolod City Police Office director, Colonel Henry Biñas to prioritize the investigation into Huelar’s killing.
Leonardia said he wants answers from the city’s police force as to how the suspects managed to commit the crime despite numerous checkpoints in place amid the ongoing enhanced community quarantine against the coronavirus disease.
“It is still premature to arrive at any conclusions in the murder of Maui,” said Leonardia.
Known for his monicker of “The Flying Fish,” the former University of St. La Salle and University of San Jose-Recoletos player was a former starting guard for the Slashers in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association.
Huelar is no stranger to legal problems, as he had been served three arrest warrants in March 2016 for carnapping, robbery, grave coercion, and arbitrary detention. In November 2010, he was also caught engaging in jai-alai operations in Bacolod./PN
