Capiz vice mayor shot dead

MANILA, Philippines - The Special Investigation Task Group is intensifying its investigation into the killing of a municipal vice mayor in Capiz who was gunned down in front of his house in Mambusao town early yesterday morning.

Senior Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police, said politics could not immediately be linked to the killing of Mambusao Vice Mayor Abel Martinez since Capiz has been peaceful in past elections.

Citing statistics, Cerbo, a veteran police intelligence officer, said Capiz could be considered one of the most peaceful during elections.

Police said Martinez died while being rushed to the Mambusao District Hospital due to five gunshot wounds in the face and body.

Cerbo said the shooting took place at around 6 p.m. yesterday in front of Martinez’s house along Rizal Street in the Mambusao town proper.

Investigation showed that the vice mayor was standing in front of his house talking to a neighbor and the caretaker of his small poultry farm when a lone gunman got a .45-caliber pistol from a sack and pulled the trigger.

Witnesses said the gunman walked toward Consolacion Street after the incident where he boarded a waiting red motorcycle and fled toward Lamindan town.

Inspector Samuel Vipinosa, of the Mambusao police, said the triggerman and the motorcycle driver did not wear any ski masks and helmets, acting “confidently that no one could possibly identify them.”

Vipinosa said the two could possibly be members of a gun-for-hire group.

He said there were no known threats to Martinez’s life. Except for his driver, the vice mayor had no personal security aide, and he was living with his only daughter. 

Martinez was on his third and last term as vice mayor. He once served as provincial board member. – With Jennifer Rendon/Freeman News Service