Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the shooting death of Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, even as contradicting police reports failed to clarify whether the mayor was ambushed or was caught in a misencounter.
Guevarra stressed the NBI should investigate the incident because the other parties involved are members of the Philippine National Police.
Malacanang, Samar Gov. Reynolds Michael Tan, Samar First District Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, and Bishop Isabelo Abarquez of the Diocese of Calbayog City on Tuesday all condemned the killing of the mayor and two other companions Monday afternoon.
Aquino was shot and killed on board his white van while he was on his way to attend the birthday party of his son in Calbayog.
Earlier, Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Debold Sinas ordered an investigation into the incident.
The PNP said five people were killed in the shooting.
At first, the reported fatalities were Aquino, his driver, and a security personnel who were aboard his van. A police officer in another vehicle was also killed.
The PNP said on Tuesday that another policeman in the other vehicle was killed.
“There was an exchange of gunfire between the two groups that resulted in casualties on both sides,” PNP said in a statement.
“The mayor, his police escort, and his driver died, with one civilian employee wounded. At the other vehicle, two police personnel also died and one more [was] wounded,” it added.
The PNP said two groups were involved in the shootout: one was that of Mayor Aquino on board a van with a driver, a civilian companion, and a police close-in security.
The other was composed of PNP personnel from the IMEG and Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit who were conducting an inspection on the operational readiness of PNP units in the area.
The PNP said the group of Aquino allegedly initiated the shootout when his close-in security fired at the unmarked vehicle of the IMEG-PDEU group.
“The IMEG-PDEU group denies that Mayor Aquino was a subject of their operations or that he was targeted,” the PNP said.
The PNP statement contradicted earlier reports that the police in the other vehicle started the attack.
Malacañang condemned the March 8 ambush that killed Aquino and his security aides.
“Political violence has no place in democracy,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
“We are alarmed because a mayor was killed and this might be the start of killings because of politics, as the elections draw near,” he said in Filipino.
Sarmiento put the blame on the police.
“The police's claim that it was a shootout was painful for me because witnesses said that the mayor's vehicle was waylaid by the gunmen.”
He added: "The ambushers, it is painful to say, are men in uniform.
They are members of the PNP. I am wondering why they were wearing bonnets and using M-203 (grenade launchers). It was well planned."
“The taking of human life and the inflicting of injury and suffering on anyone, whether as an act of aggression or to sow fears in the hearts and lives of the people can never be justified,” Bishop Abarquez said.
“The Diocesan of Calbayog does not tolerate any form of repression especially through extrajudicial killings. The right to life is a gift for everybody and no one has the right to take it. The wheel of justice is the proper venue for resolution of any case,” Abarquez said.
The prelate called on the authorities to conduct a thorough and speedy investigation of the killing and bring to justice the ones responsible.
“We share the grief of the Aquino family and the families of his driver and bodyguard, offering them our condolences and prayers for the eternal repose of the souls of their loved ones and for comfort in their bereavement,” the bishop added.
Sarmiento called for justice for the slain mayor.
“Our city doesn’t deserve this kind of violence. Each time a shooting incident occurs in our district, I always have to ponder why such a thing has to happen,” he said.
He also called on President Rodrigo Duterte and Guevarra to have the NBI find out what happened.
“We now have two mayors in the city of Calbayog who were murdered in succession, therefore as the highest elected official of the district,
I am calling all my fellow Calbayognons that we stand together as one to give justice to them,” he said.
Samar Gov. Tan also condemned the mayor’s shooting.
“Yesterday’s news came as a shock to us all. We are deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy that has befallen Mayor Aquino and his companions; and we are one with the people of Calbayog in condemning this atrocity to the highest degree,” he added
In 2011, then Calbayog Mayor Reynaldo Uy was also shot and killed by a still unknown assassin.
Aquino, who served as Uy’s vice mayor, became the mayor until his death.