Cab linked to Papadom widow’s slay

THE POLICE are trying to determine if the bloodstains found in an abandoned taxi cab in Guadalupe, Makati City—a five to 10-minute drive from the area where her body was found—came from the widow of reggae artist Papadom, Amparo Santaromana-Gamboa.

Chief Insp. Shirley Bao of the Makati police’s Criminal Investigation Division told the Inquirer on Monday that a Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) team had already examined the taxi cab with license plate UVY 402.

Authorities believed that the cab—whose name had been painted over—may be linked to the killing of Gamboa, the widow of Tropical Depression lead vocalist Dominic “Papadom” Gamboa who died of kidney failure in 2013.

Gamboa was shot near the chin and her body dumped at the corner of Kalayaan Avenue and Barrio Bisaya in Guadalupe Nuevo around 3 a.m. on Feb. 10. Her personal belongings were missing, leading the police to speculate that she may have been robbed.

According to a friend, Gamboa left her office on Rada Street in Legaspi Village, Makati City, at 2:20 a.m. that same day.

She was on her way to her family’s house in Barangay Valencia in Quezon City and her children told the police that she usually took a cab to get home.

Bao said that the abandoned taxi cab was reported stolen in Pasay City on Feb. 8.

Grim discovery

It was discovered two days later by a security guard at the open parking area of the Arcadia Building on J. P. Rizal Extension in Makati City, several hours after Gamboa’s body was found by a scavenger, dumped on top of a garbage pile.

“The security officer became suspicious of the vehicle since [the window on the driver’s side] was open and there was no one inside,” she added.

The anticar theft unit of the Makati police began looking into the case after they learned that the cab had been used in another taxi robbery, also on Feb. 10.

The victim was able to identify the vehicle through its license plate, investigators said.

When the police checked the cab, they found traces of blood on the passenger seat, hand brake and seatbelt, prompting them to check whether it was linked to Gamboa’s killing.

Bao said they were waiting for the Soco team’s report on the blood samples taken from the car which would tell them if these were the same type as the victim’s.

Still no suspect

“Until now, we do not have a suspect [yet] since we are still reviewing the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage we got near her workplace…, in the place where the taxi was abandoned and in the area where her body was found,” Bao told the Inquirer.

Reggae band Tropical Depression became popular in the 1990s for its hits “Kapayapaan,” “Bilog na Naman ang Buwan” and “Alaala.” –Maricar B. Brizuela