Mayor’s gunman kills self

A former policeman, tagged as the principal suspect in the Feb. 18 gunslaying of the mayor of Lian, Batangas, committed suicide in Catbalogan, Western Samar the other day, police said.

Quoting the Western Samar police, Chief Superintendent Rolando Lorenzo, Batangas police director, said the former lawman, Lorenzo Tolentino, shot himself in the head with a caliber .45 pistol in a house in Barangay 9, Catbalogan.

He was reportedly sighted in Lian the other week, prompting police to hunt him down but to no avail.

Tolentino earlier had sent surrender feelers to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, days after he allegedly shot Lian Mayor Sixto Vergara in front of the latter’s home.

Vergara’s wife and daughter had positively identified him as the gunman. The mayor was shot in the chest and legs and died while being treated at the Apacible Memorial District Hospital in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Told about Tolentino’s death, Vergara’s family said it was premature for them to comment, explaining they have to see the body themselves to ascertain it was Tolentino’s.

Tolentino’s relatives had reportedly claimed the body. The remains reportedly arrived in Lian yesterday and will be buried tomorrow.

Tolentino, formerly assigned to the Lian police, and Vergara were said to be close friends, with the former helping in the mayor’s re-election last year.

Speculations were rife that Tolentino had grown disappointed with Vergara with whom he had sought assistance for the killing of his brother.

Days after Vergara’s killing, Tolentino contacted Superintendent Maximo Malabanan, CIDG-Southern Luzon chief, and expressed his desire to give himself up. No word had been heard from him since then. — With Rene Alviar