Blanca's husband, driver not suspects

The police has cleared the husband and driver of actress-comedian Nida Blanca of being suspects in her gruesome murder Wednesday morning. Philippine National Police Chief Leandro Mendoza said Blanca's husband, Rod Lawrence Strunk, was not a suspect even if the investigators probed into the insurance policy and the beneficiaries of the slain actress.

Meanwhile, San Juan police chief, Senior Supt. Rodrigo de Gracia, said he is "95 per cent sure" that Blanca's driver, Tony Borja, was not behind the murder. Borja was immediately investigated as one of the suspects after Blanca's body was discovered in the back of her car in the parking lot of Atlanta Condominium in Greenhills, suburban San Juan.

"I am just a part-time driver, I only report to her when she asks me to drive her to shootings and other engagements, especially outside Metro Manila. Otherwise, she drives herself, especially when she drops by her office," said Borja.

He added that he was more than willing to be investigated to clear his name. Borja said he last saw Blanca on October 13, the birth anniversary of the actress' mother. Meanwhile, a witness who is in the custody of the police in suburban San Juan, pointed at an employee of Blanca, a known drug addict who often pestered the actress for cash, a source said.

The employee, identified as "temperamental", had worked for Blanca for over a year. The name of the witness was withheld for security reasons. "The disclosure the witness made has given us good leads on the investigation," said Chief Supt. Nestorio Gualberto, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director.

He added that the witness had changed the focus of the probe. Investigators are looking for the owner of the red Honda Civic which was parked near Blanca's Nissan Sentra before the killing took place.

Initial investigative assessments showed the killers could have been amateurs. They did not know how to kill as evidenced by the shallow stab wounds that the actress sustained in different parts of her body.

Initial assessments said Blanca's killers were either drunk or under the influence of illegal drugs. But they were also methodical. Blanca was murdered somewhere else before the body was moved back to the building's parking lot.

"There was a cleanup of the crime scene because of the absence of fingerprints and the locked car," explained the police chief. "We were not able to recover significant hair, dust and fingerprint samples."

Mendoza noted that more than one person had killed Blanca on Wednesday at about 4 am, and added that it was possible that Blanca had been killed somewhere else and her body brought back to her car.

Actors and actresses, meanwhile, raised more funds, now estimated at more than P1 million ($19,607) for the person who can lead investigators to Blanca's killers. Earlier, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito announced a reward reportedly as high as P300,000 ($5,882.00), after his father, former president Joseph Estrada, ordered a fast-tracked investigation.

The call for a through investigation and fund-raising for a reward to anyone who provides clues leading to the identity of the killer began when President Gloria Arroyo attended the wake at suburban Quezon City's White Plains chapel late Wednesday night.

"I told the police chief to get to the bottom of this and that the offenders should be punished to the full extent of the law," Arroyo said. She also asked the Filipino people "to unite against all forms of criminality in our midst".

"Nida Blanca's was not only a talented actress and an institution in the local film industry, but also a warm and caring individual who enjoyed the respect of many people," said Arroyo.

Blanca's murder has strengthened the anti-crime advocates' resolve to impose the death penalty as mandated by the Constitution. "I appeal to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to implement the death penalty," said chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, Dante Jimenez.