4 days after ambushed STL operator dies at hospital

CEBU, Philippines — Four days after he was wounded in an ambush, businessman Samuel Aguilar, operator of the Iloilo province-based Small Town Lottery (STL), died at 11:18 p.m. on Saturday while undergoing treatment at The Medical City in Molo district of Iloilo City.

Mayor Dennis Superificial, a doctor and one of Aguilar's attending physician, said the businessman died of multiple organ failure. He was 48 years old.

Aguilar sustained six gunshot wounds on the side of his body and back after he and his bodyguards were waylaid and fired upon in the morning of March 13 along Barangay Buyuan in Tigbauan town of Iloilo. One of the bullets apparently penetrated his kidney. He underwent dialysis and had been unstable since, said the physician.

The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) admitted that they did not get any breakthrough or lead yet in the Aguilar killing. They also were unable to get a statement from Aguilar considering his crucial situation at the hospital.

“No one could give us very useful insights on why it happened on Mr. Aguilar,” said Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, director of IPPO. He also said they tried talking to Aguilar's family members, even before he died, but they begged off. "We have yet to talk to all of his companions when the shooting incident happened."

Even earlier, Tayaba said their investigation was facing bumps because there were no credible witnesses that surfaced. "We know how the attack was carried out but the whys and whos remain a big question.” A reliable source privy to the case conference however said they are looking at personal conflict and business rivalry angles.

On the business rivalry angle, the source cited the possible causes: a conflict with a business partner in Batangas,; Aguilar also filed a case against the local government of Tigbauan; and there could illegal gambling operators who were "hurt" because of Aguilar's STL business in Iloilo province.  (FREEMAN)