Apart from the victim of the recent shooting and the identified middleman who contracted the killing of a broadcaster, there appear to be other persons looming as collateral damage in the continuing drama of finding the other accomplices of the gunman and the mastermind of the brutal slaying, seemingly done with impunity as if mocking law enforcement authorities.

From the time the confessed triggerman identified the middleman as being an inmate at the National Bilibid Prison, some pronouncements made by a police general, like the information fed to the mass media that the case was solved and a government official is involved, which of course is another way of saying that the brains of the murder have been traced and that one heads the Bureau of Corrections.

There can be no other reasonable conclusion other than that because, for one, the dead broker was an inmate in the national penitentiary and died under unknown circumstances within four hours after his identity was publicly revealed. Who else, from the point of view of this eager beaver police officer, has the capability and the power to execute such a swift and lethal occurrence except the one in control of the prison facility, who necessarily is a government official?

Another high-ranking police general, without batting an eyelash, pointed to and named the chief prison custodian as one of around 160 persons of interest.

Gerald Bantag, the dreaded disciplinarian and tormentor of convicted criminals, was targeted and identified as a person of interest along with 159 others who were the subject of scathing criticism and lambasting by the slain radioman. Hence, all of them could have the motive to permanently silence the radio commentator. All of them were not named, with the inescapable conclusion that we are being persuaded, if not goaded, into believing that there could be no other brains behind the slay but the government official referred to as a person of interest.

With General Bantag being preventively suspended for 90 days, divested of his service pistol including his assigned government-issued vehicles, and his 50 security personnel relieved from the prison center and replaced by those he had removed, there is validity in General Bantag's claim that the groundwork is being laid to tag him as the principal suspect.

Worse, he was left without wherewithals to shield and defend himself from those who want him dead. He becomes a sitting duck for assassination by those who suffered from his iron-hand enforcement of prison rules and regulations, especially the illegal drug and criminal syndicates he has dismantled, who naturally would want to exact vengeance.

In the meantime, the mystery deepens as the President ordered an in-depth investigation of the heinous crime. The Chief Executive has expressed disbelief to the autopsy and toxicology results indicating the absence of foul play in the death of the middleman.

All these undesirables and puzzlement in finding the truth about this case would have been avoided if the probers and other government officials have the common sense of keeping the investigation under wraps until they collared all the assassins and the brains behind the brazen killing.

The sound of silence should be the rule of thumb in the current investigation. The investigators should go back to the drawing board, zip their lips, and stop broadcasting their findings or discovery of testimonial and documentary evidence vital to the solution of this crime.