DESTABILIZERS EYED IN SLAY

Police Say Campos' Murder Part Of Plot To Undermine Gov't

The murder Thursday of Senior Supt. John Campos could be part of a plot to
destabilize the government, a top police official said yesterday.

Chief Supt. Eduardo Matillano, Philippine National Police Criminal
Investigation and Detection Group director, said the gunning down of Campos
bears striking similarities with the killing of Baron Cervantes,
self-proclaimed spokesman of the Young Officers' Union a year ago.

Cervantes was believed to have been killed by a group that was trying to
create a climate of fear to undermine the government.

Interviewed after a command conference yesterday in Camp Crame, Matillano
said he believes the Campos murder "is part of a bigger plot to undermine
the administration, and we are investigating that angle."

He did not identify any group as the suspected plotters.

He said his department would assist the Southern Police District, the lead
agency investigating the case.

Cervantes was killed in December last year in front of a convenience store
in Las Pias City.

Matillano said that as in Cervantes' case, the murder of Campos was "
well-planned, gruesome, and brutal."

The former narcotics agent was shot once in the head and twice in the back
in the Tita Ghem's Pares Pares House where he stopped for bulalo soup on
the way home to Better Living Subdivision. A stray bullet killed a waitress
of the eatery.

A companion of Campos, Antonio Cabanban, was unharmed.

Matillano said his investigators are interested in Cabanban because he is a
classmate of Supt. Rafael Cardeo, one of the principal suspects in the
Cervantes murder.

"Cabanban and Cardeo are both members of Philippine Military Academy Class
' 82, although Cabanban was dismissed from the academy - We will be looking
at these common denominators," Matillano said.

Chief Supt. Jose Gutierrez, Southern Police District director, said his men
have four witnesses in the Campos case, including the crew of the food stall.

Gutierrez said they have no suspects yet.

PNP Crime Laboratory chief Senior Supt. Restituto Mosqueda said the slugs
taken from the scene of the crime were similar to M-16 slugs fragments
which were found in the victim's body.

Cabanban said Campos had to change his telephone number four times because
Mary Ong, the former undercover agent named Rosebud and Campos' lover, had
been persistently calling him.

Ong has said Campos' former boss, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, was behind his murder.

"Rosebud has been stalking him, he even change his PLDT number four times
but she eventually find out that number even if he doesn't talk to her -
she always say things over the phone," Cabanban said.

"I don't want to think Mary is involved but with the way things are falling
into place I think it is orchestrated," he said.

Cabanban said he and Campos have been friends for years and often saw each
other.

They went out Wednesday night to celebrate Campos' topping his
comptrollership course in Camp Crame.

Gutierrez said they have a copy of the transcript of the text messages to
Campos' cellular phone before he was killed.

He refused to give the names of those who sent the messages.

Yesterday, Sergio Campos, brother of the victim, asked Ong to "stop making
accusations and let the police handle the investigation."

He also advised Ong to stop pretending as if she still cared for his brother.

"We are not interested in seeing her in television crying ... she is not
welcome here, she should let John rest in peace," Campos said.

He said his brother had been receiving death threats early this year but he
did not take them seriously.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice formed a panel of prosecutors that
would handle the preliminary investigation once the Campos case is filed.
Paraaque City Prosecutor Joaquin Escobar said he would assign Paraaque
Second Assistant City Prosecutor Rene Garcia and Third Assistant City
Prosecutor Antonette Medina to the case.