{"id":135868,"date":"2017-12-04T01:08:39","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T06:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=135868"},"modified":"2017-12-04T01:08:39","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T06:08:39","slug":"senators-condemn-killing-of-mindanao-university-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/04\/senators-condemn-killing-of-mindanao-university-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators condemn killing of Mindanao university president"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senators<\/a>
Senators on Sunday condemned the killing of Dr. Ricardo Rotoras, president of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) on Cagayan de Oro whom they said was a great loss not only to his family, friends, and colleagues but also to the country\u2019s entire higher education sector. (Photo<\/a>: AIT Alumni Affairs<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senators on Sunday condemned the killing of Dr. Ricardo Rotoras, president of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) on Cagayan de Oro whom they said was a great loss not only to his family, friends, and colleagues but also to the country\u2019s entire higher education sector.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Senate President Aquilino \u201cKoko\u201d Pimentel III asked the Philippine National Police (PNP), as well as other law enforcement agencies, to exhaust all efforts to immediately arrest suspected killers and \u201cunmask their mastermind\u201d in what the Senate President described as \u201cdastardly act.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I am alarmed and outraged by this latest attack on our law abiding and dedicated public servants. I urge the police to work double time to arrest the killers and unmask the mastermind,” Pimentel said.<\/p>\n

“We are a peace-loving society and killings of this nature must be stopped. The police must do its job to protect and secure the people against rouge elements of society,” he added.<\/p>\n

According to Pimentel, the Filipino community is seeking speedy justice for the university president, who is described by his colleagues and friends at the USTP as a \u201cworkaholic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minority senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Francis Pangilinan also strongly condemned the \u201csenseless killing\u201d of Rotoras.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on authorities to leave no stone unturned to ensure that those behind the killing be brought to justice and punished for their deplorable act,\u201d the senators said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n

The two senators said that they worked closely with the slain educator for the passage of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act as president of Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC).<\/p>\n

Aquino and Pangilinan both agreed that Rotoras untimely death is a \u201cgreat loss\u201d to the country\u2019s push for quality education for every Filipino.<\/p>\n

Also condemning the killing of Rotoras was Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito who lamented the certainty that Rotoras has been the hardworking president of the association of state universities and colleges.<\/p>\n

For his part, Senator Francis Escudero, chair of the Senate committee on education, said that the university president\u2019s efforts to help improve the nation\u2019s higher education system will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

“While I extend my deepest sympathies to the bereaved family as well as to the USTP (University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines) community, I join the academe in mourning the death of Dr. Rotoras, whose efforts to help improve the country’s higher education system will not be forgotten,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cayagan de Oro police is looking into Rotoras\u2019 case. Both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were asked by the city government to help in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Police said that unidentified assailants shot the 48-year-old Rotoras just outside his home on Saturday morning. The victim obtained multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to the nearby medical facility. Unfortunately, Rotoras died before they arrived at JR Borja General Hospital.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, a witness narrated that he had seen few people who seemed to be casing the subdivision days before the shooting happened.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another witness said that he saw two men head out of the subdivision and rode a black pickup truck after the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senators on Sunday condemned the killing of Dr. Ricardo Rotoras, president of the University of Science and Technology of Southern …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":135933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[36843,2649,13861,21743,17416,36844,21472,4306],"class_list":["post-135868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-dr-ricardo-rotoras","tag-killing","tag-senate-president-aquilino-koko-pimentel-iii","tag-senator-francis-escudero","tag-senator-francis-pangilinan","tag-senator-joseph-victor-ejercito","tag-senator-paolo-benigno-aquino-iv","tag-senators","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}