Samar mayor shot dead 36 days after predecessor’s slay

TACLOBAN CITY — Just 36 days after the mayor of Tarangnan, Samar was assassinated, the town’s vice mayor who took over his post was also gunned down yesterday afternoon.

Police said Mayor Francisco Montero was about to board his service vehicle in front of a hardware store in Catbalogan town when one of two unidentified men shot him with a caliber .45 pistol at close range.

Montero was hit in the buttocks. He died while being rushed to the provincial hospital.

Last Feb. 28, Montero’s predecessor, Anieto Olaje, was shot dead inside a cockpit arena in Calbayog City. His police escort, SPO1 Sebastian Pinanggay, was wounded in the attack.

Olaje was a known supporter of former Rep. Rodolfo Tuazon, who is again running for Congress against first district Rep. Reynaldo Uy.

Montero, a political ally of Uy, was running for re-election as vice mayor.

Police said Montero had no bodyguard when he was killed.

Authorities have expressed alarm over the spate of slayings in the province.

A day after Olaje’s assassination, SPO3 Edgar Aniban, a bodyguard of Uy, was fired upon in Calbayog City. He sustained three bullet wounds in the chest.

Last March 11, a barangay chairman, Gerry Llever, and a political organizer of the Liberal Party, Luciano Laylay, in Calbayog were killed in separate incidents.

Uy, Tuazon and Calbayog City Mayor Mel Sarmiento have asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to place the first district under its control.

Police and Comelec officials earlier declared the first district an "area of immediate concern."