CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – Police have formed two tracker teams to capture the suspect in the murder of Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Mervin M. Guarte here on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
THE city government of Calapan led by Mayor Malou Morillo recognized Mervin Guarte’s achievement in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in 2023. (Mayor Malou Morillo FB)
Police Lt. Col. Roden S. Fulache, Calapan police chief, said that one team was deployed to five barangays, and the other was dispatched to two barangays in Naujan and Baco and one barangay in San Teodoro where the suspect is believed to be in hiding.
Fulache said they have talked to the family of the suspect, including his father, who is detained at the district jail for a separate case, to obtain vital details on his son.
Guarte was sleeping in the living room of the house of Barangay Councilor Dante Abel in Sitio Pinagkaisahan, Barangay Camilmil, when the suspect attacked him with a kitchen knife at about 4:30 a.m.
Police arrived in the crime scene one hour after the incident and recovered a bladed weapon without a handle believed to have been used by the suspect.
Guarte sustained a stab wound in the left chest and was declared dead in a hospital at 8 a.m.
Police are eyeing old grudge as possible motive in the killing.
Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito Dolor has ordered Police Col. Edison Revita, provincial police chief, to fast-track their investigation to arrest the suspect.