A MAYOR accused of drug trafficking survived an ambush Sunday, four months after President Rodrigo Duterte publicly threatened to kill him, while at least four other people were killed in the run-up to Monday’s barangay elections.
Retired police chief superintendent Vicente Loot, a mayor in Cebu province, had been repeatedly named by Duterte as one of the so-called “narco-generals” protecting the illegal drug trade.
Loot on Sunday was on a boat arriving with his family at a port in the Cebu town of Daanbantayan when unidentified gunmen opened fire and wounded four people, police said. The mayor was unhurt.
“We are looking at all possible motives and angles, including his being tagged in the narco-list, politics, or his previous work in the police force,” acting town police chief Senior Inspector Irish Dilem said.
Loot told radio dzMM he was urging authorities to investigate the incident but refused to speculate on the motive. He denies links to drugs
Duterte has launched an unprecedented war on drugs that has cost thousands of lives. He first named Loot in 2016 as part of his so-called “drug list” of local officials, policemen and judges whom he accused of involvement in narcotics trafficking.
Three other mayors on the list have since been shot dead, one of them while inside a jail cell.
Duterte had lashed out at Loot as he questioned the source of the mayor’s wealth. In December 2017 he recounted a conversation he said he had with the official.
“Did I not tell you during my meeting with [mayors], I told Loot, ‘You son of a whore. General Loot, you are a general. I will kill you’. Because [he] used government for wrongdoing,” Duterte said during a disaster briefing.
Duterte’s spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday’s ambush.
The ambush came on the eve of local elections on Monday and two weeks after authorities released a list of over 200 elected officials with alleged links to drugs.
Rights groups criticized the issuance of what they called a potential “hit list.”
Meanwhile, a former member of the House of Representatives and two of his companions were killed in La Union province.
Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, director of Philippine National Police-Region 1, said Eufranio Eriguel, former La Union Second District representative, died on the spot when shot at close range by an attacker in barangay Capas, Agoo town at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Eriguel’s two civilian body guards Bong Tubera and Bobby Ordinario died upon arrival at the La Union Medical Center while eight other people were wounded.
Barely 12 hours after the slaying of Eriguel, gunmen staged an ambush on Loot and his family Sunday morning in Cebu City.
Eriguel was also on Duterte’s so-called narco list.
Insp. Alfredo Padilla Jr., officer-in-charge of the Agoo, La Union police station, said the shooting seemed to have nothing to do with the coming barangay elections.
Reports said the suspects on board a black Mistubishi Montero and a white Toyota Innova, alighted and hurriedly went to the front of the stage and shot at Eriguel.
Two of his bodyguards tried to shield Eriguel and were killed.
Eriguel was the husband of Sandra Eriguel, the incumbent representaive in the Second District of La Union.
He survived in a bomb attack in April 2016 that left several people injured.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday called on the Philippine National Police to forcefully, quickly, and effectively address the killing of Eriguel.
“What we need is a professional and credible police force that can deter criminals and effectively deal with those who violate the law. I am encouraged by PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde’s efforts to discipline the police force,” said Pimentel.
“But we will see if his measures would translate to increased effectiveness of the PNP in catching the killers,” he added.
Eriguel is a member of the PDP-Laban, which is chaired by Duterte.
In Davao City, the incumbent barangay captain of Pangyan, Calinan District, was killed in a shootout with police, who were about to serve a search warrant on Sunday morning.
Antonio Guatno, who was running for another term in Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, was suspected of having illegal firearms in his home.
Police Regional Office 11 spokesperson Chief Insp. Milgrace Driz said officers from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 11 and Regional Intelligence Unit 11, tried to serve the warrant in Guatno’s residence.
When they entered the house, Guatno drew his pistol and aimed it at the police, prompting them to shoot, Driz said.
Two pistols were found in his house.
In February, Guatno was also among the graduates from the Community-based Rehabilitation Aftercare Program of the Davao City Anti-illegal Drugs Council. With AFP, Macon Ramos-Araneta and PNA