Batangas vice mayor shot dead

Bauan, Batangas – The vice mayor of Mabini town was gunned down by a lone assailant in front of his wife in their building here Tuesday night, police said.

Senior Superintendent David Quimio, Batangas police director, said Vice Mayor Rowell Sandoval, 51, and his wife Wilma were talking to each other in their two-story Research Solution Information Center (RSIC) call center building along Buendia street in Poblacion 3 when the gunman barged in and fired six shots at him with a caliber .45 pistol.

Wilma, who was unharmed, rushed her husband to the Bauan Doctors Hospital where he died later due to multiple bullet wounds in the head and back.

Superintendent Antonio Malabanan, Bauan police chief, told The STAR that Wilma was just sitting a few feet away from her husband when the killing occurred at around 8:40 p.m.

Malabanan said witnesses described the gunman as having slim build, about 20 to 25 years old and about 5’2” tall and wearing a blue t-shirt, maong short pants and slippers.

Police said the assailant fled toward the dark portion of the Camella Homes Subdivision that leads to the neighboring town of San Pascual.

In a cell phone interview, Wilma initially refused to give any details of the incident, but said her husband had no known enemies.

“Wala naman siyang natatanggap na mga threat at isa lamang siyang tahimik na tao (He had not received any threats; he was just a quiet person),” she told The STAR.

Sandoval served as Mabini mayor for three terms from 1998 to 2006 and subsequently ran for vice mayor and won in last year’s elections.

Sandoval was the partymate of mayoral aspirant Leonardo Bantugon who lost to incumbent Mayor Nilo Villanueva of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

Sandoval, along with Bantugon and former Batangas governor Armand Sanchez, belonged to the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi).

Malabanan initially speculated that politics and business rivalry could be behind Sandoval’s killing.

A Mabini police investigator, who requested anonymity, said Sandoval only reported to Mabini town every Tuesday during the municipal session.

Meanwhile, The STAR gathered that some employees of Sandoval’s call center had complained about their delayed salaries for about three months.

Malabanan said they were also looking into this. A close friend of the Sandovals, however, dismissed as a “shallow” angle.

A lawyer from the provincial capitol described Sandoval as a jolly person.

The Sandovals have three children: Nigel, 15, and 10-month-old twins Camille and Mikael.

Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto condemned the killing and ordered the Batangas police to dig deeper into the case and give justice to Sandoval’s family.

 – With Ed Amoroso