The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is looking into the possible link of the murder of businessman Roberto Tan recently to the ambush survived by his brother, former councilor Ricardo Tan, here a year ago.
Col. Henry Biñas, city police director, said on Monday investigators of Police Station 4 continue to gather pieces of evidence and are looking into various angles.
“One angle we’re considering is, if it is related to the ambush of Councilor Tan. Our investigators are focusing on that,” he said.
Biñas added that other police units are assisting the responding unit in the investigation.
Roberto “Kaishek” Tan, 70, was gunned down by two suspects riding in tandem on a motorcycle along C. L. Montelibano Drive in Greensville I Subdivision, Barangay Estefania at around 9:45 a.m., a police report showed.
Tan was driving a Nissan Sentra when he was shot six times. He died immediately. The still unidentified gunman fled with his driver-companion.
Biñas said the police has not received reports of threats on the life of the businessman, but investigators believe the incident was premeditated.
“It was not just a timing. We saw that it was carefully planned,” he added.
Roberto was gunned down exactly a year after his brother Ricardo, a former number one councilor of this city, and wife Anita, were ambushed by at least three assailants.
In the afternoon of December 14, 2018, the couple was on their way home from the family-owned Campuestohan Highland Resort when unidentified men fired at their Nissan Patrol vehicle.
Both Tan and his wife survived the attack and only sustained abrasions.
After the ambush, Tan was unable to attend the remaining City Council sessions until his term expired on June 30 this year.
Weeks after the ambush, the councilor again made headlines when President Rodrigo Duterte linked him to the illegal drug trade.
At the time, Malacañang also said it would leave for investigators to probe Tan, who was already on the watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)