By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The suspect in the June 2011 murder of Ilog municipal councilor Antonio Gequillana was found guilty yesterday morning by the Bacolod City Regional Trial Court-Branch 42. Judge Fernando Elumba ruled the suspect, Ryan Gatoc, sentenced to “reclusion perpetua.” or a 20 to 40-year prison sentence.
On June 27, 2011, Gequillana was exiting the East View Hotel in Bacolod City’s Barangay Villamonte, when he was shot by Gatoc. The town official was reportedly on his phone and about to board his pick-up truck when Gatoc shot him with a .45 caliber pistol.
The assailant immediately fled aboard his motorcycle.
One of the guards who witnessed the incident said, prior to the murder, he saw Gatoc across the street from the hotel.
A week later, Gatoc surrendered to Criminal Investigation and Detection Group operatives and was later charged with murder.
Gatoc remains mum on revealing who ordered him to kill Gequillana./DGB, WDJ