A special task force has been activated by the Manila Police District (MPD) to investigate the killing of Manila Chief Inquest Prosecutor Jovencio Senados.
In an interview with DZBB Wednesday (July 8), MPD Director Rolando Miranda said they are confirming if Senados' car was tailed by the unidentified gunmen, after the prosecutor's nephew Feljie Bagares, who was driving their car, said he noticed the two vehicles on the Skyway.
Senados was sitting beside his nephew in his car when he was gunned down at Anakbayan corner Quirino Avenue in Paco, Manila Tuesday morning (July 7).
Closed-circuit television footage showed two vehicles slowing down to block his car's path before he was killed.
Bagares reportedly told the police that the route that they took on the day Senados was killed is their usual route from Calamba, Laguna.
Miranda also said the plate number they saw on the black Mitsubishi Montero boarded by the gunmen is registered to a different vehicle.
The Manila police chief said they are looking at all possible angles to determine the motive behind the killing.
Police have started looking into the "sensitive" cases that Senados handled, Miranda said.
Senados approved the release order pending further investigation of Pride 20, the 20 activists who were arrested after staging a Pride protest in Mendiola, Manila on June 26.
He also approved the release of those arrested for alleged quarantine violations at the onset of the enhanced community quarantine.
However, Miranda said they have yet to identify any persons of interest.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was also ordered to conduct an investigation on the incident.
National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) President Edre Olalia said Sedanos was the 50th victim on the list of lawyers, prosecutors, and judges killed under the Duterte administration.
"Whatever the motive and whoever the perpetrators as should be credibly established, this is absolutely unacceptable in a supposed civilized and democratic society," he said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
"The claims to 'peace and order' and purported 'rule of law' once again fly in the prevailing culture of violence and climate of impunity engendered by official hate speech and penchant for vindictiveness," he added.