University professor shot dead in Cavite

By Ronron
June 14, 2007

A University professor was shot dead on Thursday morning in Cavite by two unidentified suspects.

Chief Insp. Audie Madrideo, chief of police of Rosario town, identified the victim as Romulo Ventura, 53, professor of the Cavite State University.

Madrideo said Ventura was about to park his owner-type jeep at the Tejeros Convention Hall compound in General Trias Drive, Rosario when the two suspects approached him and shot him at close range at around 7am.

Ventura sustained two gunshot wounds to the head, causing his instantaneous death, Madrideo said.

Police suspect that the gunmen used a 9mm and caliber 45 pistol.

Madrideo said the two suspects escaped on foot. “They could just be assassins,” the police chief said of the gunmen.

He said investigators are now looking at two angles: love triangle and work-related.

The first angle is borne out of information they received that Ventura, who is separated from his wife, has a married girlfriend. Reportedly, he and his girlfriend have a love child whom the latter’s husband thought initially was his own. But lately, the husband became suspicious about the real father of the kid.

The second angle refers to a feud between Ventura and the President of the Cavite State University, identified by Madrideo as Reynaldo Samonte, which reached the point of Ventura filing a case against Samonte before the Ombudsman.

“We are currently working on these two angles,” Madrideo said.

Madrideo said they hope to identify the killers once the nephew of Ventura, who witnessed the incident, recovers from shock and is able to describe the appearance of the suspects./DMS