24 April 2008
Marcos Mataro
Shooting
Mataro was a 39-year-old religious worker of the Iglesia ng Diyos Kay Kristo Hesus Church, led by controversial spiritual leader and Ang Dating Daan host Eliseo Soriano.
Mataro was shot six times to his forehead, eyes, neck, and chest, which led to his instantaneous death. Spent shells from a 9mm pistol were recovered from the crime scene. Initial police investigation showed that the victim was waiting for a Manila-bound passenger bus along the San Simon Exit in San Simon, Pampanga when the two armed assailants, riding a motorcycle in tandem, attacked him at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The suspected gunmen abandoned their motorcycle with plate number DW-4524 and boarded a bus headed for San Fernando City, also in Pampanga.
Police are zeroing in on the angle that the killing could be connected to the victim’s leaving the Felix Manalo-founded Iglesia ni Cristo Church and his transferring to Soriano’s group. After serving as its minister, Mataro, a New Era University graduate, left the INC and hosted D’ X-Man, a television program that features former INC members exposing alleged anomalies surrounding one of the biggest religious groups in the Philippines.
